Whincup happy to avoid Hamilton/Alonso boilover at Triple Eight

Jamie Whincup was relieved to avoid a dramatic Lewis Hamilton/Fernando Alonso-type boilover between Triple Eight Race Engineering drivers Will Brown and Broc Feeney in 2024.

Brown arrived at Triple Eight in the summer and went up against Feeney, who was entering his third season with the team, and first without Shane van Gisbergen as teammate.

After 12 rounds and 24 races, Brown emerged champion, with Feeney second despite winning more races and taking more pole positions.

Brown's supreme consistency was king in a year Triple Eight won both championships, claimed 11 race wins, took seven one-two finishes, and scored 33 podiums.

Amid the success, Brown and Feeney raced hard yet fairly, and retained a strong off-track relationship.

It was something Whincup was proud to oversee, with the seven-time champion turned Triple Eight boss flagging the potential for flashpoints between Brown and Feeney at the start of the season.

Speaking on the Rusty's Garage podcast, Whincup cited the fractious 2007 season between then McLaren teammates, Formula One rookie Hamilton and two-time champion Alonso, with the latter leaving the team.

"Me as team owner, I've got huge respect," Whincup said.

"They both worked together and got to that awesome position come year-end, where they were one and two in the championship, and scrapping it out between themselves."

Whincup made it his 2024 mission to foster a "healthy" rivalry between his two drivers, and drew on experience from his own battles with van Gisbergen and Craig Lowndes to get through the year.

While Feeney was a known quantity to Triple Eight, Brown was coming into a new team. However, the Queenslander quickly made an impact, Brown's engineer Andrew Edwards quipping that there was belief of title glory after the very first test.

"We knew he's talented, we knew he could come in and do a great job," Whincup said of Brown.

"Did we expect him to win on debut, and go on to win the championship in the first year? Probably not; we were hoping that was going to happen.

"The job he's done this year with his engineers and the whole team has been very, very impressive.To beat Broc to the line, where he had huge momentum from last year, he was always going to put in an unbelievable performance.

"To come into a new team and be able to finish in front of Broc; he's done a fantastic job."

Brown and Feeney will commence their 2025 campaigns at the Sydney opening round on February 21-23. Tickets are on sale now.