Max didn't say that.

Brazilian Max Wilson has expressed his surprise in the Australian press, not only at the nature of his enforced departure from the Brisbane-based Triple Eight V8 Supercar team, but also at things he's supposed to have said as he was shown the door.

Wilson had been under contract to drive for the Betta Electrical sponsored team for 2005, and as recently as the Bathurst round of the series team boss Roland Dane went on record as saying that the former Champ Car driver and F1 test driver would be there partnering new signing Craig Lowndes.

After difficult runs at both the Surfers Paradise and Tasmanian rounds of the series, and following Craig Lowdnes run in the Triple Eight Falcon, the team decided that Wilson would not in fact be retained and moves were made to get Steve Ellery in the squad's second berth.

"They contacted Pee Wee [Max's manager, Greg Siddle] after Tasmania and said they were not fulfilling the contract," Wilson told Australia's Auto Action. "They didn't even have the decency to call me or invite me to the workshop to discuss things."

Wilson left a number of parting shots too. "All year long they were trying to blame their lack of performance on me and Paul, which I think is not nice, but that's the way they chose to work."

Radisich, ironically, had a very strong Eastern Creek round, but has expressed similar feelings about having put all the hard work into developing a difficult car. "The potential has always been there in the car," Radisich told Crash.net Radio at Eastern Creek. "It's been very frustrating because there's been times when we've been in very good positions for good results only to be let down with mechanical issues."

Wilson's beef with the team also stretched to the press release announcing his departure and replacement with Ellery. In the release, Wilson was quoted as saying he had plenty of options on the horizon.

"There were quotes from me that I never said and I think it's very, very unprofessional to do something like that," Wilson told the Aussie weekly. "I never put that quote in and I haven't spoken to Roland or any media people at Triple Eight since Tasmania, basically. It's really upset me that there were quotes from me that I had never said before."

The team is believed to be able to get out of its contract with Wilson due through clauses relating to non-race, sponsorship and corporate days.