Was that another Jamie Whincup brain-fade we witnessed in Race 28 of the Repco Supercars Championship on Sunday? It is not the first time that there has been concern about his decision-making ability in the heat of the battle. With his new leadership role from the end of 2021, as he becomes the Managing Director and Team Principal of Triple Eight Race Engineering, the team he is currently driving for, how much unease does it raise amongst the crew?
Both he and Red Bull Ampol Racing team mate, Shane van Gisbergen, fought over second and third placings in the closing stages of the final race of the weekend at Sydney Motorsport Park, instead of chasing down the eventual winner, Erebus Motorsport’s Will Brown, who went on to take his maiden Supercars victory.
Whincup, who sits second overall on the points table to van Gisbergen, wouldn’t let his team mate through, even after being instructed first from his engineer, Wes McDougall, as well as team manager Mark Dutton.
“Dutto did tell me to move over, but I elected not to,” said Whincup. “There’ll be discussions over that.
“When you calm down, that’s the wrong thing, I’ve probably done the wrong thing there. But it certainly wasn’t the wrong thing 20 laps into a race, it was the right thing.”
Hang on, the ‘right thing’ is always the right thing, even under scrutiny, even after the event.
It doesn’t get any better……
“I don’t regret anything,” he said. “We went out and raced. I don’t think an apology needs to go either way.”
His decision on track and explanation afterwards certainly don’t display the attributes of a great, or even a good leader. It may have been better if he put up his hand and just said he didn’t do the right thing and apologised
Whincup may not understand the brevity of the situation. A team must have confidence and faith in their leaders and he will be in that position in 2022. How will he react if his replacement driver for next season, Brock Feeney, did the same thing?
Maybe the red mist descended onto the #88 car while he was needlessly battling his team mate. It has happened before and will probably happen again.
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