What got you into following F1?

It has always been part of my life as far as I can remember. I don't remember a time when it wasn't the staple Sunday afternoon TV watching in our house and I used to love watching it as a kid. I was lucky as, due to his work, my dad used to get "invited" to atend GPs by sponsors and teams from time to time. The atmosphere and the noise at the track was something I loved and still do to this day.

There are so many memories of F1 as a kid, watching Mansells tyre explode, the Senna/Prost battles, and just the cars seemed to fly rather than drive round the track. My one lasting memory was being awaywith my Dad in Italy and going to Imola for the GP, the silence that settled round the track after Senna crashed is something that will always live with me, the shock in the crowd. I didn't really see the crash, or know the full extent at the time, but the way, what felt like the whole world, reacted at the time was frightening as someone who hadn't really been exposed to the potential horrors of the world at that time, but also the solidarity felt throughout the crowd and teams was inspiring at the same time.

I lost interest a little in the Ferrari domminent seasons. After a few years it seemed hardly worth watching as we all knew the outcome before it happened. I wasn't so far too involved as a fan, just loved the cars and watching them, but to me it seemed pointless as we knew where the winner was coming from before the start of the race. Having had a few years of not watching I was (un)fortunate enough to be involved in a minor way with a team in 05/06 through where I worked at the time. This ignited my passion again, not just for the sport, but knowing how things worked, how the regs affected the cars and how teams fought the laws of physics on a daily basis for that few hundredths of a second on the track. Having got into that side of the sport I started watching again, but I have to admit the adverts on ITV really did put me off so I was more of a read about it fan than a watcher after a few races.

It wasn't until 2007 when I woke up one Sunday morning at a rediculous time and didn't know what to do with myself for a few hours till the rest of the house was up, so I sat in bed flicking through the TV and saw the Australian GP about to start so I gave it a shot. All of a sudden watching the GPs was magical again, there was no real dominant team that stood out on its own, you had a rookie driver going up against a double world champion at McLaren, Ferrari were in the chase and the whole season was wide open even from the best experts guesses. The only GP I have missed since then was Europe last year as I was in the USA and wasn't really that bothered about watching a traditional borefest to seek out somewhere showing it, and besides, I was too busy that weekend playing around with things at NASA and being the biggest kid I could be ;)
 
My dad was a big fan. He went to Brands Hatch several times with his pals in the early 80's. I started watching them on TV from around 7 years old with my dad. Don't think I have missed a single race since then. Went to my first GP at Silverstone when I was 11 which would be 1985, the start of Mansell mania.
 
Hill vs Schumacher in 95 - I was travelling in Australia that year, and watched many of the races live in the early hours of Monday mornings on Channel 9 (which at least meant I was prepared for the foulness of ad breaks when ITV took over). I had a vague sense of F1 prior to that, and well remember the classic Monaco '92 battle, but I never bought into Mansell-mania. As is typical for me though, once something catches my interest, I tend to play sponge and seek out as much information and history as I can - I even retained a VCR when I moved house, along with my collection of season review videotapes. I also possess the Technical Lego F1 car, that Mrs Bones loathes for the dust magnet that it inevitably is :p. Strangely enough, I remember building a less-than-technical lego F1 car to celebrate James Hunt winning the title in 1976!
 
A cat called Timmy?

When I was about 7 or 8 I had a cat called Timmy for some reason the cat disliked everyone in the family except me, one day I walked into the front room the telly was on but nobody was there except Timmy, he was sat in front of the TV swiping at it with his paw.

It turned out he was trying to knock the little cars going past off the the telly I found it amusing so I watched him but after a while I started to take notice of what was going on on the TV it turned out the cars he was swatting were F1 cars and I've been hooked ever since.

Thanks for that Timmy...:thumbsup:
 
I remember a girl in my class who I sat beside in primary 5 had VIP tickets at Jordan for a Grand Prix. I didn't believe her, so she should me the tickets the next day.

And guess what?

She didn't go...waste of tickets, could have given them to me! I remember not being happy! >:(
 
I remember a girl in my class who I sat beside in primary 5 had VIP tickets at Jordan for a Grand Prix. I didn't believe her, so she should me the tickets the next day.

And guess what?

She didn't go...waste of tickets, could have given them to me! I remember not being happy! >:(

She had no idea what a lad was prepared to do for such tickets obviously
 
I honestly don't remember my first race, but I do remember watching Prost and Senna going at it with this boring sounding guy with a mustache thrown in for good measure, but what really piqued my interest was watching this young driver who seemed to be good and was definitely going to be a future star drive a Jordan and then a Benneton. He was just another level above what was around then and exciting to watch. Whatever came later, Schumacher got me hooked on F1 for good..
 
I started watching mid 70s. Getting home from the pub on a Sunday night (I think they closed at about 10.00 on a Sunday where I grew up) the only thing worth watching on TV was the condensed version of the race they used to show on BBC2. I had always watched scrambling or motorcross on Grandstand in the 60s, and so I was quite familiar with the enthusiastic commentary of Mr Walker. It only seemed natural to continue to listen to him enthuse about F1 and before long I too had become addicted to the cars. Haven't looked back since.
 
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