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When did you first start following F1?


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Poll: When did you start watching Formula One? (352 member(s) have cast votes)

In which period did you first start following F1?

  1. 2015-2019 (2 votes [0.57%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 0.57%

  2. 2010-2014 (7 votes [1.99%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 1.99%

  3. 2005-2009 (20 votes [5.68%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 5.68%

  4. 2000-2004 (29 votes [8.24%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 8.24%

  5. 1995-1999 (69 votes [19.60%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 19.60%

  6. 1990-1994 (84 votes [23.86%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 23.86%

  7. 1985-1989 (36 votes [10.23%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 10.23%

  8. 1980-1984 (33 votes [9.38%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 9.38%

  9. 1975-1979 (25 votes [7.10%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 7.10%

  10. 1970-1974 (15 votes [4.26%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 4.26%

  11. 1965-1969 (14 votes [3.98%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 3.98%

  12. 1960-1964 (8 votes [2.27%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 2.27%

  13. 1950’s 👀 (10 votes [2.84%] - View)

    Percentage of vote: 2.84%

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#1 FirstnameLastname

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 10:12

As an add-on to the ‘1000 races’ thread.

There’s a wealth of knowledge on these forum, and some real oracles of the sport. When did you first start following F1?

For me it was 1998.

Edited by FirstnameLastname, 06 April 2019 - 10:14.


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#2 milestone 11

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 10:22

As an add-on to the ‘1000 races’ thread.
There’s a wealth of knowledge on these forum...

Yep, Tim Murray is a one stop shop.
'50's for me

#3 StanBarrett2

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 10:23

1967......I had just started working at a newspaper, and did the editing of the South African GP report.

That got me started and hooked.



#4 Nemo1965

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 11:08

Define 'following'.

One of my earliest memories is that I am in the house of my father in Zandvoort, sitting on the floor playing with a toy F1-car, a Lotus 72. Quite big, not a Dinky Toy, it must have been about a foot long. Through the open windows the sounds of engines can be heard revving high and then low at the track, about a mile away. Perhaps it was the Grand Prix-weekend, maybe just another racing series was being held. All I know I was mixing the movement of the car in my hand with the sounds drifting through the window.

What I also remember is my father saying, apparently in an remark made by one of my brothers: 'You know who is really good? Emerson Fittipaldi.'

Not so long ago I asked my brothers if they remember that Lotus 72. (Had to sent them a picture, they are not autosport-buffs). According to them it was a red F1-car. That would have made it the Gold Leaf-painted 72. Considering the fact that apparently it was not common knowledge that Fittipaldi was REALLY good, (otherwise why the remark), it must have been before 1971.

So 1970? Or 1975? When I started newspaper-clippings and stuff like that?

Edited by Nemo1965, 06 April 2019 - 17:11.


#5 Anderis

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 11:25

2006 Monaco GP was probably the first F1 race I watched. I can't say for sure because my early F1 memories are so vague, I knew so little about racing so I weren't able to encode much to my brain through various information connections.

 

Then, as a Pole, I watched the Kubica's debut. I'm pretty sure it was only 2nd F1 race I had ever watched. Then maybe 1 or 2 other races in 2006. Monza was one of them.

 

Then I started to watch every single race since Malaysia or Bahrain 2007. Around the summer of 2007 I started becoming obsessed with F1 and Kubica was no longer my main focus during a race. Around 2014, my interest has started to fade a bit. I think I watched every single race from early 2007 to the end of 2013 but since 2014 I started to skip some.



#6 JHSingo

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 11:39

1995-1999 for me. I was born in 1993, and can't say when for sure I started "following" the sport, but just know I was brought up watching it, thanks to my dad. I remember eating Sunday lunch in front of the TV, or pushing my toy cars around on the carpet acting out my own race while Murray Walker shouted excitedly in the background, or getting up at some stupidly early hour in a morning to watch races like Australia and Japan.

 

The race that really sticks out for me, though, is Japan 2000. My dad was a diehard Schumacher/Ferrari fan, and I still remember him making me jump as he excitedly yelled "YES!" as Schumi came out the pits ahead of Mika... :lol:



#7 Pete_f1

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 11:52

The 1994 French GP was the first one I sat down to watch.

#8 Reddington

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 13:15

One summers day in ‘91 I turned on the television and came halfway into the Monza GP. A battle between Mansell and Senna was commented on with great enthusiasm and good detail for someone who’d never seen a race before. These two drivers were apparently the top dogs, there was talk of special tires for qualifying, racing strategies, pit stops, etc. it was all something I immediately loved and was drawn to.
I haven’t missed a race since.

I became an instant fan of Nigel and Williams. After Nige left I supported Damon, although he’s not the typical driver I get most excited about. But it was just great to see him take on Michael.
I’ve always liked the all out racers. Mansell, Hamilton, Kobayashi, Verstappen, Ricciardo, fast, highly motivated, always there for the first overtaking possibility, guys not to be messed with.

Then there’s people like Ross Brawn, Adrian Newey, the team battles, the tech. I still like it as much as when I first started. Yes sure, times change, but it wasn’t always better. I think it’s still pretty exciting.

Edited by Reddington, 06 April 2019 - 13:17.


#9 Eff1

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 13:34

1997, San Marino, Frentzen won it I think.

Following that the odd race - Nurburgring and Jerez 1997....then from the start of 1998 I just couldn't miss a race.



#10 Pascal

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 13:35

As a kid, I first started watching races on TV with my dad in the mid-1970s. My interest at the time was pretty casual, but I clearly remember Ligier's arrival on the scene with their odd-looking JS5 sporting a gigantic airbox. I then followed Renault's early efforts with their turbocharged engine.

But the virus truly bloomed when my family moved to Monaco in late 1979. My dad's office was organizing every year during the local Grand Prix a buffet since it had balconies overlooking the harbour. So my first exposure to the Monaco Grand Prix came by witnessing this...

aaf4ec73a42c6a3962bf29efaf8ebed70d9da27b

I saw this from roughly the same angle this picture was taken, and with the roar of the engines reverberating on the mountains around town, it left an indelible mark on my young mind. From then on, I was truly hooked.

#11 azza200

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 13:36

1994 i was 8 years old and had seen a few bits of races Brazil and Aida on TV. I had liked what i had seen and decided to watch in full the next race which was Imola. I know out of all races to first watch was that weekend but over that year i became a massive Hill & William's fans i watched every race and taped them. Got all the season reviews

 

It was the car's that got me hooked the sound of them they how fast they went, Sadly since the move to Sky back in 2012 i have lost interest in F1 still read up on it. See race highlights on YT or have on background for bit on TV but this current era F1 is not for me. I have got into Sportscar racing more and follow that more then F1 these day's. 



#12 TennisUK

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 13:49

As a kid, I first started watching races on TV with my dad in the mid-1970s. My interest at the time was pretty casual, but I clearly remember Ligier's arrival on the scene with their odd-looking JS5 sporting a gigantic airbox. I then followed Renault's early efforts with their turbocharged engine.

But the virus truly bloomed when my family moved to Monaco in late 1979. My dad's office was organizing every year during the local Grand Prix a buffet since it had balconies overlooking the harbour. So my first exposure to the Monaco Grand Prix came by witnessing this...

aaf4ec73a42c6a3962bf29efaf8ebed70d9da27b

I saw this from roughly the same angle this picture was taken, and with the roar of the engines reverberating on the mountains around town, it left an indelible mark on my young mind. From then on, I was truly hooked.

It looks like your father's office was pretty close to my student flatmate's mother's house. He had the surname 'Burgess' and they lived in the same block as Anthony Burgess. They used to get his mail from time to time.

 

I first started following in 1987, aged 8.


Edited by TennisUK, 06 April 2019 - 13:50.


#13 Zerobyte

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 14:26

For me it starts 1975 :D age 13 where is the time going ?



#14 Neno

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 14:30

I voted for 2000-2004 but that's more because that's when I started following full season and watch pretty much all-grand prix races. But I started ocassionaly watch F1 somewhere around late 90's. Cant remember much, but my first recollection memories of F1 are of Schumacher in red Ferrari before he won championship with Ferrari. I just distinctively remember that car and name on track.


Edited by Neno, 06 April 2019 - 14:31.


#15 Pascal

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 14:35

It looks like your father's office was pretty close to my student flatmate's mother's house.


It occupied a good part of one of the mid-height floors of the blue building at the centre of this photograph:
monaco-france-we-are-travel-girls-7-774x
Sainte Dévote is visible on the left of this picture, so I could hardly have had a better view of Derek Daly's lift-off!

#16 Amz964

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 14:36

My first race watching F1 was the 2003 British Grand Prix when I was 7 but I didn't start watching properly until the start of the 2004 season and pretty much haven't missed a race since.

#17 taz

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 14:59

Haven't missed a gp since Melbourne '97



#18 PlatenGlass

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 15:13

Around 1983 although possibly I saw some of 1982. I went to the 1983 European GP at Brands Hatch as a 5-year-old and was certainly well into it by then.

#19 BuddyHolly

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 15:27

1970, to be exact Monaco 1970, I saw the race highlights programme on the BBC and I was instantly addicted for life and also a Rindt fan.



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#20 djparky

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 15:53

Late 1970's watching on the TV with dad, and Murray Walker and James Hunt talking down a phone line

#21 noikeee

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 16:09

I watch since I remember, was obsessed with F1 as a little kid. Voted 1990-1994, but vaguely remember the Suzuka 89 accident. I'd have been 3, so not sure how much of that memory is correct or revived by later images...



#22 FLB

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 16:19

I watch since I remember, was obsessed with F1 as a little kid. Voted 1990-1994, but vaguely remember the Suzuka 89 accident. I'd have been 3, so not sure how much of that memory is correct or revived by later images...

Same (1975-79 though)... I remember Gilles Villeneuve being on the nightly television news after breaking his leg in a FAltantic crash in 1977. I was 3 years old.



#23 lio007

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 16:23

Since Canada-GP in 2011. It was a rainy Sunday afternoon here in Austria, so I switched on my TV and witnessed the longest GP in F1 history, with more than 4 hours. The TV-commentators have been so upbeat about Newey's exhaust blown diffusor...that was the moment when the fascination about clever ideas, aerodynamics and Red Bull Racing really started… oh it feels like it was just yesterday.

#24 Vitesse2

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 16:46

1965-ish. Earliest racing memory is actually watching very grainy live TV pictures from Le Mans - possibly in 1963 or 1964. But by then I was already car-obsessed, with an encyclopaedic knowledge of then-current and recent models - and even knew most of the geographic areas for number plates (no mean feat in those days, although I was always a bit hazy on the Irish ones). Probably stemmed from long holiday trips from Berkshire to Cumberland, Devon and Yorkshire.



#25 AlexPrime

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 16:50

Started watching in 1992 and following in 1996 :) Liked Mansell and Hill a lot.



#26 MikeV1987

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 17:00

Watched here and there in 07 but started following it closely in 08.

Edited by MikeV1987, 06 April 2019 - 17:01.


#27 DogEarred

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 17:06

As a young teenager I remember having been vaguely aware of Stirling Moss, Tony Brooks, Vanwalls & Jim Clark winning the Indy 500.

 

But when I started a paper round, my interest was well and truly aroused one morning, by seeing a copy of Motor Sport magazine. Don't remember the exact month but the front cover photograph was of two F2 McLarens, with red bodywork.

(1966/67?)

 

I had a glance through & from then on it was my biggest interest.



#28 AustinF1

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 17:08

I voted for 2000-2004 but that's more because that's when I started following full season and watch pretty much all-grand prix races. But I started ocassionaly watch F1 somewhere around late 90's. Cant remember much, but my first recollection memories of F1 are of Schumacher in red Ferrari before he won championship with Ferrari. I just distinctively remember that car and name on track.

This pretty much describes my situation as well. I got hooked for good by the great Alonso/Schumi battles of the early 2000s.



#29 Regazzoni

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 17:15

1970. I recall a late Sunday night on TV, La Domenica Sportiva following Ickx on pole at the Glen.

 

Then during the following summers watching GPs on Swiss TV, before the passion took hold in 1974, with Autosprint every week.

The first ever book on F1 was a Swiss one, available in the three main national languages, my copy was in Italian, on the cover the start of the 1974 Swedish GP. I still got the book.

 

Hunt winning at Zandvoort seems like yesterday, jumping on the sofa for the red car immediately behind - I was a kid...

 

Then, of course, Monza 1975. Unforgettable.

 

rega.jpg



#30 aray

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 17:23

San Marino 1998. Accidentally switched on to the race while surfing the channels and that was the moment when Schumi started chasing down Coulthard. I think it was my fate to become a diehard F1 fan slowly thenceforth. 



#31 jonpollak

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 17:25

0846-CE3-F-73-B9-4430-9-F25-1252-B170560

Jp

#32 Regazzoni

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 17:33

jp reminding Grand Prix, I actually saw that at the cinema, late '60s, with my aunt we used to go every weekend.

 

I didn't get much of it, but the image that stuck was a red car flying off track, the driver ending up on a tree, or some such, Haven't watched it since decades..



#33 Sterzo

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 17:57

Rather like Nemo, my induction seeped in from toy cars. Had two Dinky Alfa Romeo 159s and a Ferrari type 500 in the early fifties, read an illustrated hour by hour account of the 1953 Le Mans race over and over again, and was given a Boys Book of Motor Racing for (I think) Christmas 1955. Was taken to an Oulton Park meeting in 1956 where I saw an up-and-coming Graham Hill in one of his early races. That was it: I was hooked and still am.

 

I make no distinction between being a motor racing enthusiast and following F1. Didn't understand such a distinction then, and still don't now.



#34 FirstnameLastname

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 18:02

Interesting to see the peak of the 90’s... was that the high point for F1? Or is it that the Internet + F1 message boards were getting traction in the 90’s and that’s where the bulk of members found these boards. Do modern/younger f1 fans know of/use forums or are they ‘of their day’?

Still quite a small sample I guess.

#35 midgrid

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 18:08

Interesting to see the peak of the 90’s... was that the high point for F1? Or is it that the Internet + F1 message boards were getting traction in the 90’s and that’s where the bulk of members found these boards. Do modern/younger f1 fans know of/use forums or are they ‘of their day’?

Still quite a small sample I guess.


Forums like this are quite dated in the online world. If you were to conduct the same poll for the F1 community on Reddit, for instance, the demographic would be much younger and consist of more recent followers of the sport.

#36 midgrid

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 18:11

To answer the question, the first GP I watched was 1996 in Monaco. I started following the sport full-time from the 1997 season.

#37 Wingcommander

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 18:12

Early 90s, I remember Mika in a Lotus. I haven't missed many races since 1995. Hated Schumacher back then because he was so much better than anyone else.



#38 Claudio Navonne

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 19:39

Here in Buenos Aires they repeated the full race of the 1967 Italian GP, and I saw it with my father, and I remember vividly when the reporter began to shout that Clark was coming at a man's pace without fuel, and how Surtess and Brabham inherited the first places of the race. That year (1967) they had also repeated the Indy 500, with the Parnelli Jones turbine and the triumph of A.J. Foyt. I was 11 years old. Then the first complete live race was the 1970 Italian Grand Prix. And I remember when Saturday afternoon the promotions changed because of Rindt's death. At that time I had been following F1 for 2 years race after race through the magazines that were published here...



#39 messy

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 19:39

1998. Before that, I was aware of F1 but oddly I never watched it even though I was an avid follower of the BTCC and the WRC.

One Sunday I was sitting round bored waiting for my grandparents to do dinner and found the Argentine GP. I watched as Coulthard and Schumacher collided, as Schumacher aimed his Ferrari at every kerb so aggressively trying to squeeze out time, as he took the win, punched the air and did his 'leap' on the podium. Sold.

In those early years I could properly lose myself in F1 magazines for hours. I could watch the entirety of qualifying, race build up and the race without getting bored. I remember going on holiday to Wales and living in a tiny caravan in the mountains for a week and my only concern was getting the next issue of an F1 magazine (it wasn't F1 Racing, it was another, shorter lived one that was a f**cking brilliant, massive, thick, glossy thing only available for a couple of years, can't remember what it was called) so I could sit, looking over the hills, and read every single page forwards, backwards, upside down. I sat in school and drew F1 cars in my exercise books (and got caught by my French teacher doing exactly that, almost shat myself), I spent every weekend playing all the tracks on my N64. Lived F1.

I feel quite nostalgic for those days. I'd love my son to find it as magical.

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#40 Nonesuch

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 19:49

Started seeing an increasing number races from 1996 through 1997, and actively followed all the races from the start of the 1998 season onwards.

 

Was sold on the narrative that The Best Driver would win the title for Ferrari, and while it took a while longer than anticipated, that certainly stuck.

 

open-uri20121024-24011-1fztehv.jpg


Edited by Nonesuch, 06 April 2019 - 19:50.


#41 Collombin

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 20:00

wasn't F1 Racing, it was another, shorter lived one that was a f**cking brilliant, massive, thick, glossy thing only available for a couple of years, can't remember what it was called


Do you mean that Rubython one that was obsessed with the Jaguar team?

#42 Peter Perfect

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 20:13

1986

#43 FirstnameLastname

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 20:14

Do you mean that Rubython one that was obsessed with the Jaguar team?


Was that not a ford advertising ‘magazine’ that was given away free with F1 racing?

I know the mag the fella is talking about, can’t remember the name though. There was also a witty cartoon f1 magazine which was good fun.

Also found f1 in 1998. Once a month on Saturday, I’d take the trek about 5 miles into town to buy f1 racing mag and read it cover to cover. I was obsessed with it, to the point I had the entire 1998 season of news clippings kept in a scrap book. Very fond memories, also hope my sons could fall in love with it but these days there’s so much distractions. I used to hunt out every bit of f1 news but now it’s so easy whilst being difficult to watch the sport live. Such a shame.

#44 FirstnameLastname

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 20:22

Although the pictures have now been removed, here’s a rundown of some of the more obscure F1 magazines over the years. I remember almost/all of them

https://doctorvee.co...d-f1-magazines/

There was definately a time where every manufacturer was putting out magazines as advertising tools.

#45 dn12005

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 20:39

I selected 2015-19.   But my first race I watched was the 2014 Canadian GP.  INFINITI brought me to F1.  I heard about this FX50 Vettel Edition in 2012...never heard of the guy or Red Bull Racing before.  I wanted to learn more about them  but F1 was never my thing, so I didn't learn enough to want to follow F1.  Then, in January 2014, INFINITI introduced the Q50 Eau Rouge Concept car.  

 

So I found out what Eau Rouge really meant and thought, "how interesting".  I told myself that I would start watching/following F1, but did not remember til the Canadian GP.  I was utterly pleased in that race as also found a new driver to root for in DanRic - that smile drew me in!  Unfortunately, F1 still wasn't cemented in my psyche enough as (American...college) football season starts heating up in the summer with practices and pre-season leading to opening weekend kickoffs in late August....so I missed a good deal of the remaining F1 season.  That was, until the USGP in which, INFINITI brought the Q50 Eau Rouge to run the streets of Austin alongside of an RB8:

 

3037820-poster-p-1-infiniti-takes-formul     

 

Needless to say, I haven't missed a GP weekend since and in addition, F1 has overtaken football (except USM football...they are co-equal) as my number 1 sport.


Edited by dn12005, 06 April 2019 - 20:47.


#46 AustinF1

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 21:01

I selected 2015-19.   But my first race I watched was the 2014 Canadian GP.  INFINITI brought me to F1.  I heard about this FX50 Vettel Edition in 2012...never heard of the guy or Red Bull Racing before.  I wanted to learn more about them  but F1 was never my thing, so I didn't learn enough to want to follow F1.  Then, in January 2014, INFINITI introduced the Q50 Eau Rouge Concept car.  

 

So I found out what Eau Rouge really meant and thought, "how interesting".  I told myself that I would start watching/following F1, but did not remember til the Canadian GP.  I was utterly pleased in that race as also found a new driver to root for in DanRic - that smile drew me in!  Unfortunately, F1 still wasn't cemented in my psyche enough as (American) football season starts heating up in the summer with practices and pre-season....so I missed a good deal of the remaining F1 season.  That was, until the USGP in which, INFINITI brought the Q50 Eau Rouge to run the streets of Austin alongside of an RB8:

 

3037820-poster-p-1-infiniti-takes-formul     

 

Needless to say, I haven't missed a GP weekend since and in addition, F1 has overtaken football (except USM football...they are co-equal) as my number 1 sport

I was to the left, just outside your shot. Here are some of the pics I shot that day. You in Austin?

 

MrNeuYAl.jpg

 

5Ilvw1Ll.jpg

 

xYBxluLl.jpg


Edited by AustinF1, 06 April 2019 - 21:02.


#47 Myrvold

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 21:18

Australia 1998.
I can vaguely remember some important thing happening in 1994 (Senna). I also know I've seen a Williams chasing a Benetton at Imola. Either 95 or 96 as it was a Rothmans Williams and raised nose Benetton. Strange how one remember strange things.

However a couple of weeks before I turned 7, I was allowed to get up in the middle of the night to watch the 1998 Australian GP. After that I've only missed a couple of races in 03 and 04. Often Canada and the US, as I was racing karts almost every weekend myself, and we got home late on Sunday, and I had to sleep for school the day after.

 

Sadly F1 is more a habit these days. I watch it because that's what I am "supposed" to do. Quite often many hours after it actually finished, as I work quite a few Sundays.



#48 RacingGreen

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 21:40

I watched intermittently in the early 1970's, the British GP was on the TV live but I don't think the other races were (maybe Monaco was I have some memory of watching those live too). I just looked and the oldest copy# of Motorsport in my library is May 1974, so I guess I must have been hooked by then.

 

Actually I have a few older copies including one from 1966 but I'm pretty sure I didn't buy it at the time because I would have been four.



#49 Bloggsworth

Bloggsworth
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Posted 06 April 2019 - 22:08

1958



#50 milestone 11

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Posted 06 April 2019 - 22:39

There's a worrying trend developing now that numbers are coming in. There are only 5 members on here that have started watching in the last ten years.

Edited by milestone 11, 06 April 2019 - 22:39.