Red Bull still the benchmark
Sitting atop the Championship table, you'd think it was a start like any other for Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup.
But despite the strong points haul, in a way it has been a rocky beginning for Red Bull Racing Australia, the usually flawless team having been its own biggest threat.
Exclusion, pit lane penalties, driving infringements and fines have been costly, and since taking on the team principal role this season, Mark Dutton has spent plenty of time in the stewards’ office.
Dutton says these small errors – like covering a safety hole on car 888, leading to Lowndes’ exclusion from qualifying; or the car controller touching the car in a pit stop, earning a drive through penalty – simply cannot happen.
“There’s a little bit – not ill-discipline in the team – but everyone’s been working so hard at the start of the year with these quick turnarounds, people are a bit tired and not quite as sharp as they need to be in our team,” Dutton told v8supercars.com.au.
“We don’t accept that – we understand it – but it’s still not good enough. It’s not the level we strive to operate at.
“Everyone in the team is under the same umbrella when it comes to that so we need to brush up. And we will. We’ll push.”
Surprisingly, the team has been penalised by the stewards at each of the year’s three events.
At the Clipsal 500, it was for the car controller “working” on #1 during a pit stop, earning a drive through penalty. Whincup subsequently pushed hard to make up ground – a little too hard, getting pinged for a driving infringement on Michael Caruso.
It was more aggression from Whincup at the Rolex Australian Grand Prix and another penalty, for contact with Volvo’s Scott McLaughlin, costing the defending Champion five grid spots.
And in Tasmania the worst kind of on-track clash, Whincup taking out his teammate and preventing a one-two finish for the Red Bulls on Saturday. The move was deemed a racing incident, though Whincup apologised profusely to his team and Lowndes.
“We weren’t happy with that – none of us, each of the drivers included – that’s not how we operate,” Dutton said of the intra-team clash. “So we’ll make sure that doesn’t happen again…
“People don’t realise we’ve always let them race hard and fair. The main rule is don’t touch each other but they’ve touched before and things like that.
“They’re true racers – there’s never any malice, it’s total respect – but there’s been lots of instances where it’s really close to that happening, and it just hasn’t. Unfortunately it’s bound to happen, and I’m the one standing in the middle when it’s happening.”
While fans were celebrating Lowndes’ strong victory after Sunday’s race, Dutton was again with Investigating Officer Jason Bargwanna.
Another strike from the stewards – this time a $500 fine (suspended until December 31).
The exact wording of the penalty was: “Pit crew member … adjudged to have been incorrectly attired and have crossed the prescribed line during the session”. The new-for-2014 rule means team members cannot cross to the pit wall while their car is in pit lane if they're not correctly attired for a refuelling race.
The penalty doesn’t affect the Championship standings, but shows another chink in the team’s armor – and after six rival teams were penalised under the same rule at the Clipsal 500, they hadn’t learned from others’ mistakes.
However, Dutton praised the stewards' handling of Sunday’s final issue.
“They were good about it. Bargs (IPO Jason Bargwanna) said, it’s got nothing to do with your car, we’re not going to do a car penalty, we’ll stick you 500 bucks. It’s a lot of money for a little mistake, but it’s a sensible one.
“It shouldn’t happen, there’s a rule, but the rule shouldn’t penalise on-track and it didn’t. Good job with that.”
So, fortunately for the team and its fans, no change to the dominant one-two finish for the Commodores.
“No exclusion, no pit lane penalties, nothing like that! But there’s always the threat of that – the way people interpret rules and then interpret the punishment.
“So good job there for Bargs, bad job there for (David) Cauchi (Whincup's race engineer, who was the offender), I’ll go smack him around!” Dutton joked.
‘Dutto’ said he was enjoying his new role, and was happy to see Lowndes’ impressive drives on both days across the Tyrepower Tasmania 400.
Roland Dane has taken a step back from the operations, and will represent the team purely as an owner.
“I’m sure that’s a big step for him,” Dutton said.
“And it’s a compliment to the team he’s put forward, that he trusts us enough to do that without having a performance input. So we are working hard to make sure we don’t let him, the team, or ourselves down.”
The V8 Supercars are back on track at the Winton 400 this weekend, so it is a tight turnaround for teams – particularly Red Bull and the other Queensland based organisations.
Tickets are still available for the Winton 400.
