Cameron Hill Addresses Zach Bates' TV Outburst After Chaotic Supercars Weekend in Melbourne
Cameron Hill has expressed disappointment at being branded a "f***wit" on national television by fellow Canberran Zach Bates, but insists holding a grudge would "only hurt in the long run." The comments came after a tumultuous weekend at Albert Park, where chaos erupted across four sprint races, highlighted by a massive multi-car crash involving championship contender Broc Feeney on the first lap of Sunday's final event.
High Emotions and On-Track Incidents Fuel Tensions
Emotions ran high throughout the Melbourne event, even without drivers being eliminated. Hill revealed that Bates opted against clearing the air after contact at the start of Saturday's race. The duo has a contentious history, dating back to last year when Hill shoved Bates off the track at Ipswich, drawing ire from then-team boss Matt Stone. Now, Bates drives for Stone, while Hill has joined Brad Jones Racing for 2026, setting the stage for their latest on-track encounter.
During the race, Hill attempted the inside line into turn one, resulting in contact with Bates. This incident caused PremiAir's Jayden Ojeda to spin and sent Bates tumbling to 21st place after a gravel excursion. Bates quickly voiced his frustration over the radio, with his message broadcast clearly: "Cam Hill is an absolute f***wit." After repeating the line, his engineer urged him to move on, saying, "Eyes forward."
Hill's Perspective and Focus on Moving Forward
Despite the public criticism, Hill finished eighth for his best result of the weekend, while Bates recovered to 14th. Hill told media, "No, he doesn't seem like he wants to talk to me. There's no ill will from me." He explained, "I went for a gap and I felt like I was in that gap, and as we've seen this weekend, sometimes trying to squeeze three cars into one corner just doesn't work."
Reflecting on Bates' comments, Hill added, "Disappointing to hear him say that on national television, but he's going to be... he's only at the start of his career. He's very talented, I think he'll find his rhythm soon. It's just, it's nothing personal, I'm just out here racing. I'm sure we'll be going door to door again very soon."
Hill, who apologized after last year's incident and was warned by Stone that 'hot heads don't prevail,' admitted he had his own frustrations with others at Albert Park. He noted, "That's the thing — we go out there and the adrenaline is very high, the blood's boiling. The emotions are running high so it's being able to try to keep a cool head and then also just try separate it."
Emphasizing a forward-looking approach, Hill stated, "At the end of the day in a month's time we just line up and we go at it again. I feel like holding grudges only hurts you in the long run because you're putting your energy somewhere that's not performance-oriented."
Team Dynamics and Technical Adjustments
Hill will now reset as Supercars teams prepare to ship cars to New Zealand for April's Taupo-Christchurch double-header. He plans to spend time at home, saying, "I'll go back home, my wife will be very happy for me to maybe do the night shift with our new son Miles," referring to his firstborn, who arrived just two weeks before the season opener in Sydney.
Brad Jones Racing escaped without major rebuilds for their three Toyota GR Supras before packing. Investigations continue into optimizing the new-for-2026 machine. Hill drove his Toyota GR Supra to a top-10 finish in Melbourne, feeling his team found improvements over the weekend after initial setbacks.
He commented, "I feel like we're off to a pretty good start and the most exciting thing is we can see that there's a lot of potential in the car yet. It's just going to take a little bit of time to unlock it. But watch this space, hopefully the second half of the season we really start honking along."
Hill is quickly adapting to engineer Jason Bonney, noting differences in the GR Supra compared to the Camaro he drove for three seasons. He explained, "The engine probably delivers its power a bit differently so that's something that we're trying to get our head around. The aero, it feels very similar and that's the intention with all the parity testing that they do. When you jump in it still feels like a Gen3 Supercar."
He added, "Little things, subtle things that are probably different, maybe that's what makes it a bit harder — because if you drop in something totally different you've got nothing to compare it to and you just get on with a job. But when you get into something that's maybe two or three per cent different, you do have to make those really small adjustments, which sometimes are hard because you've got so much muscle memory in what you do. I think we're all refining our technique."
Looking Ahead to New Zealand Events
Supercars now has four full weekends off before the New Zealand rounds. Cars and equipment will be packed into containers next week, with Taupo hosting its third event and Christchurch's Ruapuna circuit making its calendar debut. Hill and the teams aim to build on their early-season performances as the championship progresses.
