Supercars 2023: Triple Eight boss Jamie Whincup hits out at parity wrangling as team unveils its 2023 Camaro challenger
Triple Eight team principal Jamie Whincup has slammed bickering over parity from his Ford rivals as a little too late as his team unveiled their stunning 2023 Supercars Championship livery.
Triple Eight team boss Jamie Whincup has labelled last-minute wrangling over Gen3 parity from rivals Ford “reckless” as the clock counts down to the launch of Supercars’ new era in Newcastle early next month.
As the championship-winning squad unveiled its 2023 Camaro challenger, Whincup took a swing at “the other side” for putting the “whole system under stress” that it didn’t need less than a month out from Gen3’s debut.
Ford’s global performance boss Mark Rushbrook confirmed early this month the Blue Oval was not satisfied parity had been reached for “engine or aero” between the Gen3 Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro following Supercars’ VCAT aerodynamic testing late last year.
Ford’s lingering concerns are set to send Supercars back to the track for more aerodynamic testing later this month.
Although details have yet to be finalised, it’s understood the category plans to conduct more aero testing — following next week’s all-team test day at Sydney Motorsport Park — in a bid to resolve the parity grumblings.
Whincup, the seven-time series champion-turned Triple Eight team principal, said it was late to be “messing around” with changes when teams needed to prepare cars for the Newcastle season opener on March 10-12.
“It’s a bit late in the piece. Aero testing was last October or November,” Whincup said.
“So to still be messing around with that this late in the piece, it’s nothing short of reckless because there is a point where we have got to build cars and get them to Newcastle.
“It’s all good to want to change the decorations, but there is a point where you have got to get the show on the road.
“So anyone suggesting that you change the decorations around at the last minute — all they are doing is putting the whole system under stress that it doesn’t need right now.”
Triple Eight is the lead homologation team for the Chevrolet Camaro after bidding farewell to the Holden Commodore last year when a dominant Shane van Gisbergen claimed a second consecutive championship win.
Whincup said Triple Eight had been satisfied with the results of the category’s aerodynamic testing last year, but suggested potential last-minute changes threatened the preparation of teams on both sides.
“We were happy with the way Supercars represented themselves and conducted the VCAT testing,” Whincup said.
“We were ready to sign off on the car on the last day (of VCAT testing) and we are still ready to sign off on the car provided there are no changes. But the other side wants to keep changing things around even though it’s quarter to midnight.
“It’s disappointing, but it is what it is. It’s actually putting a lot of stress on both sides.
“Ideally we want the cars signed off and know what we are racing and locked in, but we have got no certainty around that.
“I can’t believe it has got to this point, but it has …. anything could happen from here until Newcastle.”
Van Gisbergen took all before him in Supercars in 2022, winning a record 21 races, the Bathurst 1000 (with Garth Tander) and the drivers’ championship.
Out of contract at the end of this year, van Gisbergen has said previously the success of the new Gen3 cars would determine his future in the series.
Whincup said there had been “no change” to the Bathurst 1000 champion’s outlook, but he remained confident the Gen3 cars would deliver what his star driver wanted.
“I have said it before and I am confident — it’s a good car,” Whincup said.
“It’s challenging and it’s going to be a real challenge in these first six months for all the teams from a driver-engineering relationship point of view to improve that development curve.
“The development curve is going to be quite steep in the first six months so I think that is going to invigorate him and give him a big challenge, a big carrot in front of him.
“I think he is going to love Supercars and want to stick around, but time will tell.”
Declaring the New Zealand ace at the “peak of his career”, Whincup backed van Gisbergen to go back-to-back again, while predicting more improvement from 2022 rookie Broc Feeney.
“He is in his prime so there is absolutely no reason why he shouldn’t be a dominant force again this year,” Whincup said.
“I thought Broc did a great job, top-six in the championship and won one of the biggest events at the last round (in Adelaide), so he had a fantastic debut season.
“But like all rookies you can’t sit on your hands, you have got to keep improving and early in anyone’s career that development curve is quite steep. He is doing everything he can to keep that trajectory, keep improving and there is no reason why he shouldn’t keep (being) more and more competitive in the championship.”
Despite the parity quibbling, Whincup said Gen3 was the “spice up” the sport needed.
“No one knows what is going to happen, no one knows who is going to be fast or slow, reliable, or not,” Whincup said.
“We don’t know what the cars are going to do once you get halfway through a long 250km race. So there is a lot to play out.
“It’s probably the spice up that the sport needed and it needed for a couple of years now and it’s on our doorstep …. it’s great for the sport.”
Hamilton: I won’t be silenced by FIA threats
On the eve of the final year of his contract with Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton has begun preliminary discussions with Toto Wolff, the team principal, about extending his stay.
Hamilton, 38, has been at Mercedes since 2013, winning six of his seven world titles with them.
However, the team struggled with technical issues throughout 2022 and Hamilton finished the season without a win for the first time in a Formula One career that started at McLaren in 2007.
Speaking at the launch of Mercedes’s 2023 car, which will make its debut in the season-opening race in Bahrain next month, Hamilton said he had faith in the team and stressed that he was not waiting to see if they will be more competitive than last year before committing to stay.
“I don’t feel I need them to prove anything to me,” Hamilton said.
“We’ve shown time and time again over the years that we have strength in depth. We still have all these incredibly talented individuals within the team. You don’t lose that ability. We are continuing to try to improve our processes, continuing to try to be smarter in how we approach things.
“I think this is the best harmony within the team that I’ve seen in all these years. We have a fresh, young group of engineers who have come into the team over the past year. It is an exciting time for the team and I don’t plan on being anywhere else.”
Hamilton also made it clear that he would continue to speak out on controversial issues despite threats from the FIA, motor sport’s governing body, that drivers could be penalised for making political or religious statements without its consent.
“Nothing will stop me speaking out on the things I’m passionate about,” said Hamilton, who has championed a range of causes including Black Lives Matter, diversity in motor sport and LGBTQ+ rights.
“I think the sport does have a responsibility still, and always, to speak out on things to create awareness of important topics, particularly as we travel to all these different places. Nothing changes.”
Wolff confirmed that he and Hamilton had discussed the driver’s contract future but insisted he was in no great rush to get anything signed. “We have done a few of these contracts in the past and they change little from iteration to iteration,” Wolff said. “It’s not usually complex, apart from the obvious [financial] terms.
“We have had our first chat but I don’t want to commit to any timeline because it’s not important for him or for us at this stage. It runs a full year and we are going to try to find the right time.
“In terms of the contractual situation, we have always found good solutions that reflect his value for the team and the sport. I think Mercedes is the place he wants to be. These things have never been contentious. Nothing is dragging on and the alignment is great.”
Mercedes’s 2023 car, the W14, will run in all-black livery, as in 2020 and 2021. However, on this occasion the colour scheme is not about promoting diversity, rather to save weight. As most of the visible structure of the car is made of carbon fibre, which is naturally black, the team have been able to shave off a few ounces as paint is not needed.
Mercedes struggled to keep the weight of their 2022 car down, especially after having to strengthen it to deal with high-speed porpoising problems. Wolff explained there was a nod to the past in the new strategy; the original “Silver Arrows” Mercedes cars of the 1930s were so-called as paint had been stripped off their aluminium bodywork to reduce weight.
Hamilton backed the move, saying: “Everyone likes it within the team. Ultimately, weight is a key goal for us. We were overweight all year last year, so we were carrying a weight penalty even into the last race. There has been a big focus to make sure that is not the case this year.
“We see a lot of carbon and not too much paint on the car, just the bare minimum. For me that is positive because it means it is all out for performance. It is not necessarily about how it looks, it is about how quick it goes.”
FERRARI UNVEILS GRAND PLAN TO DETHRONE MAX
Ferrari unveiled their SF-23 car for the upcoming Formula One season at their Maranello headquarters on Tuesday, the Scuderia gunning for Red Bull and world champion Max Verstappen.
The iconic Italian outfit finished second in the drivers and constructors championships last time out after an error-strewn campaign, way behind Red Bull whose top driver Verstappen comfortably retained his title.
A Ferrari driver hasn’t won the championship since Kimi Raikkonen back in 2007 and the most recent constructors title came the following year, a long drought for F1’s most successful team.
“The goal is to win, clearly,” said driver Charles Leclerc, who took the SF-23 for a spin around the Maranello track in front of around 500 of the team’s famously passionate supporters.
“The feeling of winning is what motivates me, motivates all the team too. I’m really looking forward to getting back in the car and trying to win the championship.”
There is officially no pecking order between Leclerc and teammate Carlos Sainz, hence a coin toss which decided who would get first go on the new car at Maranello.
“If at one point of the championship a driver is clearly in the fight for winning... then I’m sure the team will do everything possible to put him in the best conditions,” added Leclerc.
Sainz -- who finished fifth last season with the high point his win in the British Grand Prix -- said he was confident for the new season, which starts early next month with the Bahrain Grand Prix.
“I’ve been working hard over the winter to arrive to this season prepared. Last year I had my bit of success, it was not an easy season but I don’t know any easy season,” said the Spaniard.
“I feel I want to race, make a lot of podiums ... I know I’m able to do very good things.” The coming season is the first for team principal Frederic Vasseur, who took charge in December following the resignation of Mattia Binotto the month before.
Vasseur gained a reputation for nurturing new talent, helping win the F2 series in 2005 and 2006 with future world champions Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton respectively.
He has strong links from the junior categories with Leclerc. “You can feel the responsibility for the team, it’s a great honour but at the end of the day the important thing is to be successful,” said the Frenchman.
“We want to deliver and I don’t want to be happy just because I’m at Ferrari, the most important is to win.” Binotto was considered culpable for last season’s frequent missteps, including pitlane errors and reliability issues which damaged Leclerc’s attempt to keep up with Verstappen.
Ferrari began with two wins in the opening three GPs but were then swept aside by Red Bull and Verstappen, who won the drivers title with three races remaining and eventually finished 146 points ahead of Leclerc.
The new car is designed with the aim of improving aerodynamics and the reliability of the engine, the latter being one of the key problems last time out.
“Last year is not a secret, it was not the best aspect with the engine, we’ve done a good job and we’re ready for the season,” said Vasseur.
“The concept of the car is the same, the rules are the same. The priority is the reliability. Only Bahrain will tell us where we are.”
RICCIARDO’S SPIN IN ‘BAD BOY’ SUPERCAR
Callum Dick
If fans were disappointed Daniel Ricciardo did not pilot the title-winning RB7 at the Bathurst 12 Hour last weekend, vision of the Aussie Formula 1 star cutting laps in a Ford Mustang Supercar may bring a smile to their faces
Ricciardo was absent from Red Bull’s F1 exhibition at Mount Panorama last weekend with the West Australian instead required in New York for the team’s 2023 season launch, where his role as third driver included a guest appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
It was in the Big Apple that Red Bull announced it would join with Ford as its power unit partner from 2026 – and the blue badge wasted no time in bringing Ricciardo in for some fun.
The 33-year-old visited Ford headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan on Thursday, where he was given a tour of the facilities before taking to the M1 Concourse to test drive some of the manufacturer’s fleet of high performance vehicles, including the new Mustang Supercar.
“I’ve driven pretty much every Ford under the sun and just got out of this bad boy right here,” Ricciardo said in a short Instagram video posted by Ford Performance.
“Bit of Aussie in me, a little bit of V8 Supercar here in Michigan, which is far from home but I felt at home in it.
“It was a lot of fun. A big thanks to Ford for having me out here today, it’s been a blast. I’ve enjoyed my first visit to Detroit and I’ll be coming back, that’s for sure.”
Ricciardo’s Michigan madness was not his first time in a Supercar.
In 2019, prior to the F1 Australian Grand Prix, he piloted Rick Kelly’s Nissan Altima as part of a sponsorship deal.
The F1 cult hero has previously spoken of his interest in the Supercars Championship and a desire to one day cut laps at Bathurst.
With his full-time F1 career on-hold for now after his return to Red Bull as its third driver, there is hope the eight-time Grand Prix winner could make a cameo appearance Down Under this season.
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