Dan Ticktum smiles. "At the end of 2015 I had to ring Helmut Marko and tell him what happened," he says. "And his exact words were, 'You're a silly boy'. Me and dad sent him a couple of emails talking about it, and he said, 'Call me next year when you have you licence back'."
From March until September 2015, Ticktum had carried Red Bull Athlete colours in his MSA Formula (now British Formula 4) campaign. Now, he's chatting to Autosport as a fully fledged member of Marko's Red Bull Junior team, looking forward to a season in the Formula Renault Eurocup.
In between, he became the whipping boy of British racing, the 'burn-him' witch on trial across forums and social media. "He should never be allowed to race again," they bayed.