Abu Dhabi: The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same

The first round of the 2010 V8 Supercars has been run and won with a somewhat unexpected although not unusual result with Jamie Whincup standing on the top step in both races. Given that he is the two time reigning series Champion, you might not seem all that surprised that he won both races, yet many things changed between the 2009 and 2010 V8 Supercars seasons, with one of those being Team Vodafone’s jump from Ford to Holden. The event at Abu Dhabi was therefore not simply the first race of the new season, or even the first time the V8s would race in twilight conditions. It was the first race weekend in two years where many hoped Jamie Whincup and Team Vodafone wouldn’t have it so easy.

All the ingredients were on the the table. A new car, an early start to the season, limited testing and the hope that surely Team Vodafone, who have been in championship fights since 2005 when Lowndes narrowly missed out on a 4th title to Russell Ingall, would finally slip down the grid and give someone else a chance to fill their trophy cabinet. Instead Team Vodafone put on a display of their technical brilliance that suggested their engineering prowess was not limited to Falcons, and brought to the Middle East two Commodores that would go on to score 549 of a possible 576 points available.

Not to steal any thunderous V8 roar from what is clearly one of the great V8 Supercar ensembles of the last decade, but this result reinforces the success of project blueprint, a project put in place to ensure the parity of the two manufacturers and to keep the Holden vs Ford battle close and alive, if not feeling a little well, manufactured. Look back on the start of the decade when Lowndes switched from Holden to Ford, and there was all kinds of chatter about adjusting to the differences between the two cars. These days however it appears as though under the skin the cars are one and the same.

The fear of one manufacturer dominating the sport were the driving forces behind project blueprint but has that very fear resulted in the kind of domination where one team can win in either car? Motorsport is a highly cyclical sport and we only need to look back at the last two Formula 1 seasons for a perfect example. In 2008 McLaren and Ferrari were the cars to beat, and yet in 2009 it was Brawn and Redbull, with Ferrari and McLaren struggling early on to even score points let alone win races. This was aided by some extensive rule changes and both McLaren and Ferrari being handicapped by a lack of development of their 2009 car due to the 2008 Championship fight, but that is what motorsport is all about. Developing a competitive package.

The key word there is development. While one team is winning left, right and center, another team is languishing behind them developing the next race winning car. If we think back a few years when Holden were at their peak and the Ford camp were struggling with their AU’s, you can be sure that Ford were busy developing the BA. Time spent in development ensures future success. But fast forward 5 or 6 years and Team Vodafone managed a move from Ford to Holden and remained so competitive that this past weekend Jamie Whincup was able to repeat his opening round whitewash of 2009.

Of course, through all this talk of the cars I am forgetting the driver, something I like to call the Jamie Whincup factor. We’re talking about a series where 10 – 15 guys are separated by a few tenths at tracks across the world, and yet Whincup constantly puts in performances that result in wins, with plenty in reserve. This season Whincup could etch himself in my mind as a driver of the same caliber as Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Loeb and Valentino Rossi, all who have shown similar strength in dominating their motorsport.

So it seems the more things change, the more they stay the same and it looks as though Whincup’s competitors are going to have to wait a little longer.