Even if he wanted to Will Brown was never going to attack Broc Feeney with Triple Eight employing team orders at the Melbourne SuperSprint.
In order to protect the 1-2 and avoid the chaos from behind, Triple Eight’s brains trust instructed their drivers not to change position after the first corner and manage the race.
There can be no doubts that the tactic worked with its grip on the first two steps of the podium never seriously challenged as Broc Feeney led home Brown in Thursday night’s 18 lap sprint.
The teammates locked out the front row and with Feeney getting the supreme start, he enjoyed right of way and secured the win even despite a head on collision with a duck.
It calls back to memories of 1998 when McLaren employed a similar directive where the driver who led at the first corner would ideally go on to win the race.
On that occasion infamously David Coulthard pulled aside to allow Mika Hakkinen to take the win just three laps from home.
Thankfully for Triple Eight no such move was required.
When pressed Brown admitted the team orders in the post race press conference.
“I guess it is one of those things. In our team we always make sure there is some sort of team orders because at the end of the day our plan is to finish 1-2,” he said.
“The team do not care if it was me or Broc, but it is mainly about managing the race.
“I would have (made a move) if Broc was not my teammate, but at the end of the day he would have got going.
“He was faster out there but if it is not my teammate I am having a crack because that is how it is.
“Broc was the fastest car out there today as we saw in qualifying and could have pulled away if he wanted to.
“I had to get the start and I did not and from there I was going to finish second.”
Winner Feeney also hinted that a tactic allowed him to comfortably control the race.
“As a team we are still trying too learn a lot,” he said.
“We did something similar last year where we tried to manage the race from the front and get the 1-2.
“We did try to manage it and have enough of a gap that Cam could not lunge us and make it awkward.
“It was tough trying to manage tyres at the same time. It is hard work out there because 19 laps is tough on the one set of tyres with so many fast corners.”
Teams will try to take the attack to Triple Eight on Friday where the only on track session is another 19-lap sprint.
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