F1 Fanatic

The last few laps were insane and I think justify why I only gave the Japanese GP a 7/10. After this it just didn’t compare!

A great result for the rookie Nick Percat and Garth Tander. I just wish Skaife and Lowndes could have continued their enduro winning streak. Still 3/4 is still really good!

On behalf of Australia, I apologise to everyone who watched. As exciting as the end was, I am sorry that you had to see one of the best drivers in Australia beaten by one of the most unlikeable figures in Australian motorsport. I can’t really think of an apt Formula 1 comparison here. Craig Lowndes is a lot like Kamui Kobayashi – he will try and win (and believe me, he has) even with a tyre buried in his windscreen. But Garth Tander is like Fernando Alonso circa 2007 in a head-on collision with Nelson Piquet Jnr.

Tander is … well, it’s kind of difficult to explain.

For one, his successes are always a result of his skill – but his failures are always someone else’s fault. He always seems to marginalise the role others play in his victories.

I think Tander has high expectations of himself, and he holds the team to those expectations. But he always seems to concentrate on the failures, and he rarely acknowledges the successes. I also find that he lacks the X-factor that the other drivers have; for example, Lowndes has the never-say-die attitude, Whincup is immune to pressure, and van Gisbergen almost scares the other drivers into giving way. But Tander comes across as clinical and dispassionate in his driving. This presents in a cold and uncaring attitude off the track (unlike some others; Greg Murphy has the same high standards, but he wears his heart on his sleeve).

Likewise, he always seems to claim that he had things under control and that he was never concerned about anything – even when there is evidence to the contrary. I flipped over to Suzuka before the podium, but no doubt Tander claimed that he wasn’t worried about Craig Lowndes (when he was clearly being cautious going into the Chase after his lock-up). In the World According to Garth, he is always in the box seat. Yesterday, he was talking up the importance of being on pole position for the race, but on the grid this morning, he was downplaying the importance of qualifying. Even if he was a lap down, he’d still claim that it was the ideal position to be in. There’s confidence, and then there’s cockiness, and then there’s outright arrogance. Tander stops just short of that last one, so it’s possible to like him, but he tends to embody everything that is Holden and their approach of buying everyone and everything on the grid.

Wow, what a finish! Wish I’d seen this now instead, the GP could have waited!

Wow, what a finish! Wish I’d seen this now instead, the GP could have waited!

Honestly, you didn’t miss too much. The first twenty or thirty laps and the last twenty or thirty laps were okay, but everything in between – except Besnard’s accident at Griffin’s Bend – was fairly boring, just everyone driving to the point where they could start racing one another.

That said, we did get to see some creative problem-solving, the kind that you don’t really see in Formula 1 – someone accidentally left a wrench of some kind in the passenger’s-side footwell of Jamie Whincup’s car. Rather than waste time trying to dig it out at the first round of stops whena quick stop if crucial, the team put a magnet in the car, holding the wrench in place.

I have to agree with PM, I find Tander to be quite unlikeable sometimes, though he clearly has talent. The only reason I wanted him to win was for Percat! He used to race at my old go-kart club and i’ve still got his old nosecone in my shed (though I never met him, just bought it as a spare). Maybe I’ll get it signed when he’s won the championship!

And yes iamsa8, the context of the finish makes a big impact on the excitement. After the whole race of the Vodafone cars and car 2 fighting, the last few laps were so intense as Lowndes caught Tander, and for the most important victory of the year.

And then Darrell Waltrip’s lap before the race is one of the funniest bits of racing car video I’ve seen for a while. Bear in mind Mr. Waltrip had a long, successful racing career in NASCAR (3 titles).