When did you first start following F1?

Started in 1993.  Stopped in 2011 or so.

Australia 1997, watching Damon Hill struggle to qualify.

1982 Monaco Grand Prix, 3 weeks before my 10 year birthday.

Put the bar quite high for expectations .

By then my heroes were Piquet and Rosberg. 2 years later it was my all time hero Lauda.

Edited by stenovitz, 09 April 2019 - 08:34.

when prost and lauda were teammates, thats all i can remember

1990-1994.  This seems generational. I was born in 1980.   Interesting to see I now belong to the majority.    

First race I remember watching is Siverstone 1988 with Senna dominating and Mansell managing to finally get a result in the WIlliams. I also clearly remember watching the highlights of Imola 1989 with Berger's big crash. First season I followed was 1992, although nothing to do with Mansell, was never a big fan.

From about mid-90's, so I chose the 1995-99 timeframe.

What is odd is that I'm still among the newer ones with that one, despite more than 20 years having passed since then.

Not sure, how will this forum look like in 20 years' time then. Slow decline? 

1993 at 11 years old. Remember buying a big purple 1994 season preview magazine with Senna on the front (cant find any images of it anywhere- seem to remember it had loads of archive material at the back too). Was really excited before that season...

From about mid-90's, so I chose the 1995-99 timeframe.

 

What is odd is that I'm still among the newer ones with that one, despite more than 20 years having passed since then.

 

Not sure, how will this forum look like in 20 years' time then. Slow decline? 

No....

As we oldies start retiring, we'll have even more time to post....

Came in about 1/3 the way through Melbourne 02. Webber came 5th in his debut with a Minardi after holding off Mika Salo who spun out just before he eould have had him. Great race and then didn't miss a race for 10 years. I miss them pretty regularly now though. Maybe 1/4 I don't watch because of the time difference.

Is there no possibility to watch later in your country? I never watch races live anymore... that way I can fast-forward past the celebs, the empty interviews, and so forth...

BTW: Melbourne 02 was a GREAT race!

Edited by Nemo1965, 09 April 2019 - 11:14.

Is there no possibility to watch later in your country? I never watch races live anymore... that way I can fast-forward past the celebs, the empty interviews, and so forth...

 

BTW: Melbourne 02 was a GREAT race!

Why not just tune in at 9 minutes past the hour and go straight to the race?

1985. Just being a kid 6 years old, Dad drags me outta bed at seven on a Sunday morning, parks me on the back seat of his Renault 5 Alpine and proceeds on an hours long drive. "We gaan naar het autorennen" (we're gonna watch cars racing)

Well, cars racing turned out to be on the last GP of the Netherlands until now in Zandvoort. Just sitting in the sandwall along the straight, running up to Tarzan (I always returned there whenever I went to watch DTM when it came to Zandvoort) To be honest, I did not really know what it all was, only that it made a lot of noise and I quite liked that  I remember a car missing his start at front (turned out be Piquet messing up) and two red and white cars speeding off and winning with a huge margin. Only later on the car radio I heard the race winner was called Niki Lauda...

After that I watched the rest of the season on tv summaries. Sometimes the NOS covered something, but mostly it was either Belgian or German tv broadcasts. On Holidays in Austria I switched to ORF's legendary Heinz Pruller, and I also had the luck that I discovered DSF, which aired an extensive documentairy series on the history of F1. After that I was hooked. I totally HATED the fact that F1 disappeared to RTL and SBS, which were both cable tv stations (and we did NOT have cable tv). So mostly I had to watch F1 in the nineties on either RTBF (French commentary, which did more for my language skills then the frustrated and stressed out French teacher I had) or Germany's infamous RTL, with a lot of "werbung" in between

Edited by Alex79, 09 April 2019 - 11:46.

One of my earliest memories is Eddie Irvine's slingshot around the outside at Suzuka in 1997. I was four years old, and must have been watching the ITV rerun of the race at my grandfather's house. Next F1 memory is the Schumacher-Coulthard crash at Spa '98. I remember loving the Ferraris and consequently absolutely hating Hakkinen and Coulthard, only to realise when I grew up a bit that they were actually both really nice guys.

Why not just tune in at 9 minutes past the hour and go straight to the race?

That is what I do often... something like that. Usually half an hour, I can fast forward, pause... with total impunity!

dad's R&T when P Hill won in 61 a few months after the fact

first tv race wide world of sports M C in 63 by then knew the drivers and cars

but earliest  memory of wanting to go to indy in 54 at age 4 when my dad went to show his F/G body car

or riding with Zora in pre-production vetts he was building when he first got the job at chevy

Started in 2000/2001 till 2006ish. Then stopped watching (couldn't be bothered that much after Jos Vertappen left and Schumi's reign ended) and returned in 2015 when Max joined. I'm hooked now more than ever even considering the dire state F1 is in. 

^subtle

Edited by TomNokoe, 20 April 2019 - 06:18.

Started following in 1976. I was a big fan of McLaren and James Hunt. Still follow McLaren but not as closely as I used to.

First GP I went to watch was at Adelaide in 1985. I was 18yo and remember being gutted when Senna's Lotus broke down whilst leading.

Edited by DILLIGAF, 20 April 2019 - 07:47.

The first Grand Prix I saw was the 1953 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. I stood behind two straw bales on Woodcote corner and watched Fangio, Ascari, Hawthorn and I think Farina dicing for the lead. I loved those front engined cars and had most of the types in my Dinky toy collection and I well recall being horrified when Cooper introduced the first rear-engined car. The front section was fair to look at but the rest was a scaffolding nightmare and it lacked the brutal power look of the 'big-uns'.

I went to Silverstone every year after that and in those days there were no pit passes or reserved areas and I well recall chatting to Stirling Moss and Harry Schell who took time out to talk to a teenager about their experiences. Castrol R filled the air wherever you went and drivers smoked cigarettes despite the danger.

Since then, and to my present age of 76 I have been an ardent fan of Formula One and how things have changed over the years. I fully support all the safety features that have been introduced and often wonder how ridiculous it was to expect two straw bales to provide any protection from a two ton racing car travelling at 90 mph but, that said, I really miss the days when racing was unrestricted in so many respects and not sanitised and riddled with red tape as it is at present. Oh happy days.

The above post regarding the age at which you can properly remember things well certainly makes more sense to me than some of the posts on here where people proclaim themselves to be avid F1 obsessives from about the age of 3 or something. I can't remember anything much from that sort of age.

The first Grand Prix I saw was the 1953 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. I stood behind two straw bales on Woodcote corner and watched Fangio, Ascari, Hawthorn and I think Farina dicing for the lead.

You must have been grateful for both straw bales when Hawthorn dropped it on the exit.

First saw F1 Silverstone British GP 1954.I think was first race televised in UK-we had only one channel a few hours a day

Actually saw F2 racing Sept 53 at Crystal Palace when it was 'actingF1'

The first Grand Prix I remember was Monaco 2002. My Dad was a Coulthard fan, so I was a Coulthard fan. I must have seen races before that though, as I remember asking lots of questions about what happened to other drivers before actually watching the race (we watched it recorded having already heard the result. This didn't dampen my enthusiasm, however knowing the outcome I wanted Schumacher to get ahead so Coulthard could then re-overtake him). 

The first year I really followed was 2003. At the start I wanted Coulthard to win, or at a push, anyone who wasn't Michael Schumacher. This meant that at various points throughout the year I was a fan of Raikkonen and both Williams drivers. Perhaps because he lasted longest in the title fight, Kimi was the one who stuck. The only driver I ever invested enough emotion into to get nervous about watching him race. I partly blame Mclaren's prolific technical failures for that though.

Fortunately for everyone, despite my support starting this century, I have amassed a collection of literature on the history of the world championship, making me an expert on literally every aspect of F1. This has given me a strong/delusional self-belief in my expertise on matters past.

The above post regarding the age at which you can properly remember things well certainly makes more sense to me than some of the posts on here where people proclaim themselves to be avid F1 obsessives from about the age of 3 or something. I can't remember anything much from that sort of age.

I started watching every race from 1996, but I remember seeing the random race here or there from back in 1986/7. I can't remember the very first race, but I remember Piquet being my favorite driver for a while. I remember seeing races with Prost, Senna, and Mansell, but at the time, i was a huge Indycar fan. Bobby Rahal was my favorite driver since 1986, when he won Indy. I transitioned to F1 completely when the IRL and that rat bastard Tony George split from CART, splintering the fanbase. What a greedy moron.

Watched Moss win the 1957 British Grand Prix at Aintree in the Vanwall on TV, first WC win for a British car.

Got best Christmas present ever with the very latest Scalextric set complete with tin-bodied Ferrari & Maserati in 1957.

Followed the Moss v Hawthorn battle for the 1958 World Championship, had Hawthorns book 'Champion Year' for Christmas.

Started having Autosport in August 1959 and have been forever a Stirling Moss fan.

First race attended at Snetterton in 1961, First Grand Prix attended - The 1964 British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch.

Admired Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt, James Hunt, Alain Prost and the sublime Sebastian Loeb..

And now Lewis !

Edited by racerbaz, 24 April 2019 - 20:06.

Early 1970's for me, I was only young but one of my dads friends  was an actual Grand prix driver! I thought he was the coolest bloke in the world, I still do...... 

Edited by Cornholio, 27 April 2019 - 12:36.