More car makers needed in V8s

It was probably more of a shock to teams like DJR and Jason Bright's Britek team than to our Team Vodafone based in inner-city Brisbane.

For us Ford was down the pecking order in terms of how much it contributed to the program so we'll easily be able to replace that revenue.

Bu the Ford development highlights something we have spoken about previously in this column — V8 Supercars need more manufacturers.

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Bring in a third, a fourth, a fifth manufacturer.

We've said in the past that bringing in more car makers is vital in keeping the category going, and this is just another sign that to keep the series alive we need to make some changes.

A few months ago we touted that this was going to be the case so it's no surprise and there will probably be more good to come out of it than not.

The Hidden Valley round in Darwin last weekend presented us with difficult challenges because we really didn't have the ball rolling on Friday.

One thing led to another and we ended up facing little issues the whole time. Some weekends you get through without a problem and at other times, if something can go wrong it does.

In the final race last Sunday I was challenging Garth Tander for third position and I got shuffled back to ninth place.

Tander pleaded guilty to careless driving and was docked 12 points. I finished eighth, which made me 26 points poorer than if I had grabbed third spot and held that position at the end of 42 laps.

When we were in the stewards' room Garth said he thought the move was a bit over-ambitious.

All I said was that we have been racing hard and extremely clean for years.

We've gone side by side over the last two years without having a touch between us.

So to try a move around Garth on the outside was completely acceptable.

I'm not seeking revenge over it and I'm glad the stewards have addressed the incident.

Garth made a mistake and was under a bit of pressure which left him with a split-second decision to make.

It's all put to rest now and let's go back to where we were and race clean and hard.

The other issue at Hidden Valley was the debut of the new Dunlop control tyre, which is seen to be environmentally friendly because it is now made of a synthetic binding agent as opposed to using oil as a binder.

Some people seemed to have a problem with it but I think the track was changing more than the tyre. You can't make any rash decisions.

For any change you make on a car you need time to analyse it properly. You can't judge it on that one race or test.

With everything we do on the cars, we give it a good honest try over three or four rounds and then make an assessment.

I think the tyres should be put in the same category. We need to do three or four race meetings at least before any of us make any assumptions.

At the moment we have some drivers saying the tyres are better and some who are saying the tyres are worse.

And that just goes to show we need more time before we make a final decision on what changes the tyres have made to the cars.

Standings

FORMULA ONE

(After 9 of 18 rounds)

1eq L Hamilton (McL) .........48

1eq F Massa (Fer) .................48

1eq K Raikkonen (Fer) ........48