Mark Winterbottom Opens Up On Being “Blindsided” By His Team 18 Axing

Supercars legend Mark Winterbottom has opened up on his shock axing by Team 18, admitting that he was “blindsided” by the move.

MARK WINTERBOTTOM OPENS UP ON TEAM 18 AXING:

“The thing that upset me was when I went to that team, I did a lot to go there because I had a really good gig at Tickford — I had a good car and a team that could win,” Frosty. said on the latest episode of Rusty’s Garage.

“I gave that up to go to a team that I built from scratch effectively when I joined… they were last, they were one car and they were literally last on the grid.

“I remember, like, people were [saying] ‘what are you doing?’, but I was looking for that new challenge. 

“But at the same time, you know, you got sold the dream of what you were going there for.”

MORE ON SUPERCARS:

Winterbottom said he was under the impression a contract extension was a formality.

“I was told that I had a deal for next year and that’s, to me, words, handshakes, whatever, they’re the same thing,” he said.

“But, you know, you learn that pen to paper is when it actually becomes official, I guess. 

“But yeah, I was told 100% I had the gig. We were only talking about whether it was one or two years.”

Never miss anything in the world of Motorsport with the Rusty’s Garage podcast — catch all the episodes here:

Frosty said his disappointment in the shock axing was deepened by how much he invested in Team 18.

“I was disappointed because of how much I put into it because as a driver, you contractually go there, take your helmet, take your race gloves and boots and there’s the lap time, do a good job, we’ll resign you again,” he said.

“You don’t have to do the stuff that I did, but I invested a lot of time and stuff that I didn’t have to do to try and make that team better and be part of the journey… what was said and what was delivered was two different things.”

In the candid, long form chat across two parts with Greg Rust, Frosty also discussed returning to Tickford, the infamous Shanghai grate incident, doing some voice acting for Disney and more.

CATCH BOTH PARTS OF FROSTY’S CHAT WITH RUSTY HERE:

Catch all our best stuff on our Youtube Channel:

Never miss any of the best and biggest news and views in Motorsport with the LiSTNR app, where we have Rusty’s Garage, Driver’s Only and more — grab the app here!