Is Ticktum’s Asian F3 Entry Red Bull Playing the FIA at Their own Game?

Dan Ticktum is one of ten drivers currently announced for the inaugural Asian F3 Championship Winter Series, that kicks off this weekend at the Chang International Circuit in Thailand. But as the European F3 vice-champion, is the move a step backwards for the 19-year-old who will be moving up to Super Formula next season.

After its successful launch in 2018 the Asian F3 Championship, designed as part of the FIA’s ‘Regional F3’ programme between FIA F4 and F3, the series will host a three-round winter series over the next month, featuring races in Thailand and Malaysia.

Competing in a winter series is certainly nothing new for many European drivers and with ADAC F4 rookie champion David Schumacher (son of Ralf), Spanish F4 champion Amaury Cordeel, South East Asian F4 champion Alessandro Ghiretti and Pro-Mazda champion Rinus VeeKay making appearances the series will not be short of talent. Though for the motorsport keen you’ll notice a trend amongst these drivers; they’re all from a level lower than Ticktum.

Obviously, F3 regulars are no strangers either, as BRDC British F3 race winner Pavan Ravishankar will be joining Ticktum at Dragon Hitech GP, the team who secured the 2018 teams and drivers title with Raoul Hyman. What is unusual is to see a driver of Ticktum’s experience (as a European F3 front-runner) competing alongside drivers who are stepping up from F4 or at the lower-echelons of National and Regional F3.

So why?

Ticktum’s supporters will point it out as a chance to gain experience and with Super Formula only consisting of seven rounds it could be an opportunity for him to gain track time ahead of a potential move to F1 in 2020.

This is only part of the puzzle though. To get into F1 you need super licence points, 40 to be exact, and due to a change in points for the European F3 Championship, last year he only picked up 25. Of course, later reconfigures of the system saw the FIA hand out 5 points to the winner of the Macau GP a month before the 2018 race. Ticktum’s second win means he enters 2019 with 35, five short of a full licence.

As the points are kept on a drivers record for three years, he would only need 5 this year to qualify for F1, but with testing limited in-season Red Bull will be determined to get their next star in a car as quickly as possible.

And here’s where Asian F3 comes in.

2019 Asian F3 Championship Winter Series Line up

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The FIA favouring their own series over rivals is certainly nothing new and a lion’s share of Super Licence Points to GP2 over Formula Renault 3.5 had been listed as one of the death nails for the series. In fact, FIA-series have a prominent status and perhaps it’s no suprise the FIA Asian F3 Winter Series will gift 10 points to the winner.

Compared to other FIA series this seems reletively tame. Asian F3’s main series winner recieves 18 points while full season F4’s give out 12 for the winner, but when you consider Formula Renault Eurocup and BRDC British F3 champions are also awarded 10, a three round winter series seem cheap points for the 19-year-old.

Of course there is nothing illegal about dropping down to a (s)lower category, but it does open up questions about what Red Bull have planned for Ticktum if (when) he wins the series in February.

It also calls in to question how much faith Red Bull have in Ticktum to succeed in Super Formula this year. The Japanese championship is perhaps unsurprisingly shafted by the FIA’s Super Licence points, only handing 20 to the champion, and easy Asian F3 title may seem a more logical feat than third place in Super Formula.

With Red Bull driver Pierre Gasly finishing second in Super Formula (a year after his GP2 Series title) could the management be lowering the bar for the Euro F3 vice-champion.

Of course, drivers dropping down categories isn’t anything new either. Jake Hughes only missed out on the Asian F3 title this year after missing two rounds due to GP3 Series commitments, while the Toyota Racing Series and MRF Challenge have been popular winter retreats for the European rising stars in previous years. The issue now comes, that with super licence points being gifted to these winter championships, what is to stop F2/F3 hopefuls from using this tactic in the future.

Before any of that though, Ticktum has to succeed.

Ticktum failing to win European F3 would have been a shock to many during the middle of last year, but Ticktum failing to win another F3 may be more pinnacle to his career and a large gold star for whichever hotshot can take him down.