Formula E driver Dan Ticktum has responded to George Russel’s thinly-veiled dig at the Spanish Grand Prix. Mercedes driver Russell was involved in an incident with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen during the final three laps in Barcelona on Sunday, but it was his post-race comments that caught Ticktum’s attention.

The collision between Russell and Verstappen occurred after the latter had been instructed to let the British driver through in their battle for fourth. As a result, Verstappen was given a 10-second penalty and dropped to 10th place, while also receiving two penalty points to his super license to put him one away from an automatic ban. In the aftermath, Russell appeared to liken the incident to the crash that forged Ticktum’s bad boy reputation a decade ago.

When asked if he had ever seen a similar incident on an F1 grid, Russell replied: “Not in Formula 1. Maybe in Formula E. Yes, maybe there's one British driver in Formula E. But as I said, Max is one of the best in the world.”

Russell’s answer seemed to be a clear reference to Ticktum deliberately crashing into a karting rival during safety car conditions in 2015. Ticktum was given a two-year ban, the second of which was suspended. He subsequently signed to Red Bull’s academy and also spent time at Williams before joining Formula E side NIO333 in 2021, which now races under the team name Cupra Kiro.

Ticktum competed in two Formula E races in Shanghai over the weekend, finishing fourth on Saturday and 16th on Sunday. The 25-year-old shared clips of himself ending the weekend on a night out before addressing Russell’s comments on his Instagram story.

“Good evening, sports fans, I hope you’re all having a lovely Sunday. I’ve just had a very nice evening with the team and some of the guys from Porsche here in Shanghai,” Ticktum began. “I’m just on the way back to the hotel.

“It has come to my attention, via the Twittersphere, that a certain driver in Formula One, not to name names, but his name is George Russell, has made some rather choice comments about a certain Formula E driver.”

“He hasn’t named my name, but it’s quite obviously pointed at me,” Ticktum said. “I’d like to address those comments that he made.

“Number one, thank you for the free publicity. We’ll take that any day of the week. And two, while what Max did today was a little bit sceptical, to be likened to him at any point in my career is positive, if you ask me. Goodbye.”

Ticktum sits 10th in the Formula E driver standings after 11 races. In F1, Russell was pleased to maintain P4 in Barcelona, holding the same position in the overall leaderboard, but admitted that he thought Verstappen had intentionally collided with him.

"I was as surprised as you guys were. I've seen those sort of manoeuvres before on simulator games and go-karting but never in F1," Russell told Sky Sports.

"Ultimately, we came home in P4 and he came home in P10. I don't really know what was going through his mind. It felt deliberate in the moment, so it felt surprising."

Meanwhile, Verstappen has since issued a fresh statement following the incident with Russell. "We had an exciting strategy and good race in Barcelona, till the safety car came out. Our tyre choice to the end and some moves after the safety car restart fuelled my frustration, leading to a move that was not right and shouldn’t have happened," Verstappen wrote on Instagram.

"I always give everything out there for the team and emotions can run high. You win some together, you lose some together. See you in Montreal."