Full credit to the FIA and Liberty Media.
I think I became interested in GP racing as an 8 year old or thereabouts, the magical days of Clark, Hill & Stewart - so I probably arrived at GP F130 or thereabouts. I set the alarm clock early today, OK it was a pity that F1000 (not to be confused with F100 which was a poorly-conceived two seater FF series) didn't coincide with a more evocative track, Silverstone or Monza would have been perfect. However the Chinese smog lifted and I was not to be disappointed, what a glorious nod to the last 70 years.
The attention to historical detail rivalled Goodwood. That track parade with every championship winning car since 1950 was just awesome. Highlights for me included the unique sight of Andrea de Adamich in the original Alfa 158, Ruben Vazquez "Fangio" in the W196 was perhaps a bit of a controversial choice but provided historical continuity, Damon Hill in the P57, Andretti in the 79, Lauda reunited with a 312T and, of course, Bruno Senna (FW14B) and Mick Schumacher (F2004) made guest appearances. It was a great shame that Nelson Piquet Junior "did an Albon" and inexplicably backed his dad's BT52 into the pitwall at high speed.
It was the finer points that caught the eye. The sponsors may have been unhappy, but the fact that all the cars were entered in their national racing colours with no advertising was a master-stroke. All the drivers wore helmets in the livery of their chosen past F1 heroes, although I would have thought Stroll should have chosen one of the Villeneuves rather than Taki Inoue. The use of a national flag to start the race was a bit contrived and the Williams drivers did complain that they were unsighted, they argued that the flag should have been raised on some form of flag post. I'm all for historical accuracy but putting de Cesaris in charge of the Marlboro liveried safety car seemed unwise (on at least 2 health-related counts) and it is fortunate that the race passed off without major incident. It may not have been a classic race but it was gratifying to see Bottas uncomplainingly surrender his car to Hamilton in the pits when LH's Merc cried enough, Hamilton enjoying a swift swig of Coke before rejoining the race in Bottas' car and then arriving on the top step of the podium with his face blackened by the smog. 1950 was not a vintage year for champagne production (the long summer of 1949 was far superior) but credit to the organisers for providing 3 Jereboams of 1950's Vintage Moet et Chandon - it would have been awful to have spoilt the event with some 20/50 synthetic Carbon "champagne" with an attached Go-Pro. The reintroduction of laurel wreaths was also heartening but with all 3 podium places being occupied by vegetarians they didn't last long...
Bugger, then I woke up. At best I think Ricciardo had a Brabham tribute helmet and Alain Prost waved the chequer at the end - although he looked as though he would have preferred to be back in Chene Bougeries.
Incidentally back in the 1960s I watched my first G.P. on a 19 inch b&w TV, albeit with 625 (rather than 405) line technology. Today I watched on my 50 inch OLED flat screen with sound bar and the best MGU-K that money can buy. It should have made for an audiovisual treat. Unfortunately the Chinese cameramen (especially the guy at T1) had seemingly prematurely celebrated the event with plenty of Baijiu, the results were not good....
Edited by moffspeed, 15 April 2019 - 10:58.