Dan Ticktum has renewed his contract with Williams as their F1 Development Driver for the 2021 season.
Ticktum will continue to conduct simulator work to aid and build on the car’s development which he conducted for the team last season, as well as immersing himself with the team trackside and factory.
Speaking on his decision to stay with Williams, Ticktum said: “I am very happy to be continuing my partnership with Williams as Development Driver. It will be fun to get more time trackside this year as last year was quite difficult, so it will be nice to get more involved with the team at the track.”
The 21 year-old also spoke of his excitement at continuing to assist the team in the simulator but is ‘very focused’ on 2021, saying: “I still have a lot of work to do as my season hasn’t started but I am privileged and very happy as always to be representing Williams.”
Williams Team Principal, Simon Roberts, hailed the decision to retain Ticktum as “great”, adding: “He is a very exciting young driver with plenty of talent, which is evidenced by his back-to-back successes in Macau along with his impressive rookie season in F2 last year.”
Roberts also spoke of the ‘important role’ that Ticktum played in developing the FW43 with his simulator work, which has seen the youngster become widely considered as ‘a well-respected’ team member.
2021 also sees Ticktum continue in Formula Two as he switches to Carlin after a strong rookie campaign in 2020, which saw him take one win and three further podiums.
With Ticktum now confirmed, Williams once again have retained their development lineup as Roy Nissany and Jamie Chadwick remain as Test and Development drivers respectively.
Jack Aitken also remains part of the team as he once again will serve as Reserve Driver for the team this season, having been called up for the Sakhir GP in December after George Russell was loaned to Mercedes for that race weekend.
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