How close are you to F1?

[DemocalypseNow]

All the way back in late 2009, when they were still known as Campos instead of HRT, my girlfriend was offered a job to be part of their marketing department, but she declined it as it required relocating and more importantly...she thought the team wouldn't last a single season!
I mean, that's kind of right, Campos went under before the season even began...

She also worked for a sub-contractor of bunch of motorsports teams...a few F1, Monaco's A1GP team, and some others I don't really remember.

But from my side? No connection. I mean, I speak to Taki Inoue occasionally (not on Twitter), but a lot of the time it's because of something to do with Unraced F1.

[Nuppiz]

I was born and still live in the same city where Mikas Häkkinen and Salo were born. Although I'm from the east side of the city, while they are from the west.

And I went to the same high school as Emilia Pikkarainen, Olympic swimmer and girlfriend of Valtteri Bottas. I never shared any courses with her mainly because she's younger than me, but I spoke with her brother a few times (who was/is also a swimmer).

[Nessafox]

Well the closest that i've been is probably that i drive a Renault.
But other than that, my only connections that are worth something are in the music world, and even in that case, it's very indirectly. (Perhaps i should ask Jacques Villeneuve for an interview about his music career, oh wait, worst idea ever!)

[dr-baker]

I attended the 1996 British GP, I saw Nelson Piquet Jnr score A1 GP Team Brazil's only victories to date, I've seen Alex Yoong and Sebastian Bourdais race at Brands Hatch in Champ Car in about 2003 (Bourdais's 1st win in the series I believe) and I've seen other ex- and future F1 drivers in various formulae at Brands including in the WTCC, A1 GP and FRenault.

OK, an update of my post from nearly four years' ago...

I have subsequently been to the 2011 Italian GP, where I saw Liuzzi spectacularly and briefly get an HRT into one of the highest positions it ever got at the first chicane... just as it was taking Rosberg out of the race.

That 2011 Italian GP race programme was subsequently autographed by 2012 Spanish GP race winner Pasta, sorry Pastor, Maldonado (at a FOTA fan forum last summer at Williams' factory). I also have the autograph of Susie Wolff (Stoddart at the time). Photos of that autograph are on the forums here somewhere. Met her in person at Brands while she was in the DTM. Also have Murray Walker's autograph, and used to have Paul Stewart's on a plaster cast before it somehow ended up missing.

Oh, and I passed Damon Hill on the stairs at Brands Hatch once, as I was on the way to the loo. He was there watching his son race. On a track with a corner named after his dad.

[Jocke1]

I spoke to a old chap on the bus the other week who used to work for Brabham when they had their factory in Chessington. He told me that he was invited to a lot of Nelson Piquet's parties but he was too old to be hanging around with young 'uns like him, surrounded my women and crates of beer.

http://youtu.be/r4qyTPIXfqQ?t=5m2s

[roblo97]

Went to the 2009 British gp at silverstone and got 2 days off school to go and see it
My second cousin works at sauber and started out at Ferrari under John Barnard at GTO. In 2010-2011, he worked at red bull
My third(?) cousin worked at tyrell from late 70's to 1998 by which time he was chief engineer. After that, he moved to Minardi and then toro rosso

[Jonny83]

My house mate in my second year at Uni went to school with Jenson Button.

[Onxy Wrecked]

Mine is distant... As it's at least three connections before getting near Danny Sullivan let alone any other F1 personality by way of the the late Dick Trickle at the Brickyard 400 in 1994. Trickle was of course one of the drivers who failed to qualify.

[f1-gast]

I dont know how close im to Formula 1.

I actually do have at the moment lots of contact with (former) formula 1 personal because of unracedf1.com think of Peter Windsor , Hiroshi Yuchi (Dome) , Charles Nickerson , vincenzo sospiri, Jos Verstappen, and some more and in the past i became friend with Giovanni Lavaggi , also had some contacts with former FIA boss Max Mosley.

Looking closer , my uncle worked with Jack Brabham back in the 60's and an old uncle actually worked with Enzo Ferrari in the 20's and 30's.

I was for 0,004% orso owner of the Williams Formula 1 team when they came with they shareholders plan, glad i dropped all of the shares , wouldnt be worth now 4pound orso.

[Faustus]

Once upon a time, close enough to be in it. These days, nowhere near as close but still fairly close.

[Jocke1]

Once upon a time, close enough to be in it. These days, nowhere near as close but still fairly close.

So you were pretty close, then?

[FA1L]

BUMPED

My connections:

-I live about 15-20km from Faenza (the site of the Minardi factory)

-My dad used to own an Eiffelland caravan.

-I've met Piercarlo Ghinzani in the pits at the 1985 Italian GP.

[AndreaModa]

Most people know this already but I was born and lived in and around Banbury for the first 20 years of my life. Banbury is of course home to Marussia, Prodrive, Arden, formerly Kenny Roberts Snr's MotoGP team and back in the 1990s, Simtek too! And also only a short distance away from current teams Lotus, Caterham, Mercedes and Force India, which obviously includes Silverstone which I've been to more times than I care to mention!

Not F1 but my Dad's electrical engineering business has done a fair bit of work for Prodrive when they ran the Subaru WRC team. They did the wiper motors for them. He was also offered the chance to sponsor the Honda BTCC team back in the good old Super Touring days of the late 90s after he did some work for them too. I seem to remember him saying the prices for the sponsorship packages were too expensive though (the company is after all just five people!). Marussia's HQ is just round the corner from them now on the same industrial estate which is pretty cool too.

[FullMetalJack]

The closest I get is the fact that I go to the same university as Suzi Perry went to. Nothing to brag about to be honest.

[W12]

EPIC BUMP

-My art teacher is the cousin of Mika Salo. He told me that Salo once visited him, drove past my school and called it a "cardboard box"
-I once met Mika Häkkinen on an airport.
-I went to the 2012 Hungarian GP and met lots of reject personalities (and HWNSNBM, I think!) I also saw Robert Visiou fall on a motorcycle.
-On a school trip, I saw somebody wearing a Super Aguri t-shirt and a Honda cap.

[noiceinmydrink]

I'm from Northern Ireland... so Irvine an' that.

[FullMetalJack]

I suppose other than the fact that my workplace is just off the Birmingham Superprix roads, not very.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

- I have the same surname as Tommy Byrne and the same first name as Anthony Davidson.

- When my brother and I were in Monaco in 2012 he managed to take a picture of the HRT pits without realising that Narain Karthikeyan was standing in the middle of the shot.

- Felipe Massa waved to us (well, the crowd in general) when he lined up in his grid slot before the parade lap the next day.

- In a shopping centre on the weekend of the Austrian Grand Prix I saw a guy who looked exactly like Éric Boullier.

- As part of Transition Year we had to go to a driving school for the day. One of the instructors was apparently a motorsport journalist in the '90s and interviewed many top F1 drivers. Unfortunately I never got the opportunity to ask him about it.

- Finally, something remotely interesting: My hometown of Wicklow actually hosted a gruelling sportscar race back in the '50s called the Leinster Trophy. It attracted many big names from the world of motor racing (most of them British), such as F1 rejects Desmond Titterington (who won it in 1952), Don Beauman (who was killed in the 1955 race), David Piper (the 1955 winner), Brian Naylor (1956 winner), Ian Stewart and Joe Kelly as well as Peter Whitehead and 1958 World Champion Mike Hawthorn (winner of the 1951 edition).

[Ataxia]

Hopefully one day, very close. That would be the ultimate goal.

[Julien]

I knew a marshall a few yearsago who helped me to sneak behind the scenes after the Hungarian GP 2006 and I managed to talk a few word with Robert Kubica. I also was banged into the head by Juan-Pablo Montoya (it was an accident of course ) when I was hunting for autographs on an airport

[TheFlyingCaterham]

Welp, I'm not that close to F1, but:

-Like Simtek (the user), my first same is the same as Anthony Davidson
-I saw Kobayashi's first corner crash at Melbourne this year with my own eyes (aka I was at the Down Under GP this year)
-I live in the same town where Mark Webber was born (if Queanbeyan counts as being in the same town as Canberra)

And that's all. Hopefully I can get more involved in the future

[Bobby Doorknobs]

I also was banged into the head by Juan-Pablo Montoya (it was an accident of course ) when I was hunting for autographs on an airport

Did you call him a bathplugging idiot and tell him he broke your bathplugging head?

[More_Blue_Flags]

-I live in the same town where Mark Webber was born (if Queanbeyan counts as being in the same town as Canberra)

I lived in Jerrabomberra in 2006, and occasionally went to the barber in Queanbeyan who used to cut Mark Webber's hair. 2006 was the high-water mark of my lack of interest in F1 so I didn't fully appreciate the significance at the time...

[the Masked Lapwing]

-I live in the same town where Mark Webber was born (if Queanbeyan counts as being in the same town as Canberra)

Please, Queanbeyan is not Canberra. We want none of that ACT crap in NSW

[Pieman]

I attended the Henry Surtees charity karting event at Brooklands earlier this year (working for a radio station) and as well as meeting the great John Surtees himself I also met, and shared a coffee with, Lucas di Grassi. Very pleasant guy.

I also did the circuit commentary at this year's Ferrari Racing Days event at Silverstone, which included track sessions for privately-owned Ferrari F1 cars and a demonstration by Marc Gene. So technically I have commentated live on Formula 1, albeit not a race.

[Leyton House]

I live in Adelaide and went to plenty of the GPs as a kid.
Most likely no-one will believe me but I picked up a girl in a bar who turned out to be Mika Hakkinen's cousin. When she started talking about how her cousin was injured in the 95 GP here it got my attention big time!

[UncreativeUsername37]

I live in Adelaide and went to plenty of the GPs as a kid.
Most likely no-one will believe me but I picked up a girl in a bar who turned out to be Mika Hakkinen's cousin. When she started talking about how her cousin was injured in the 95 GP here it got my attention big time!

This is assuming she was telling the truth, of course.

(Yeah, I hate people.)

[Faustus]

I live in Adelaide and went to plenty of the GPs as a kid.
Most likely no-one will believe me but I picked up a girl in a bar who turned out to be Mika Hakkinen's cousin. When she started talking about how her cousin was injured in the 95 GP here it got my attention big time!

Was she fit?

[dr-baker]

I live in Adelaide and went to plenty of the GPs as a kid.
Most likely no-one will believe me but I picked up a girl in a bar who turned out to be Mika Hakkinen's cousin. When she started talking about how her cousin was injured in the 95 GP here it got my attention big time!

Was she fit?

I imagine she was blonde and Scandinavian...

[Leyton House]

I live in Adelaide and went to plenty of the GPs as a kid.
Most likely no-one will believe me but I picked up a girl in a bar who turned out to be Mika Hakkinen's cousin. When she started talking about how her cousin was injured in the 95 GP here it got my attention big time!

Was she fit?

I imagine she was blonde and Scandinavian...

She was blonde, but spoke like an Aussie (she had lived here all her life). She wasn't super slim but certainly not fat, very pretty face. It would be odd for for most people in Adelaide to know who Mika Hakkinen is, that's what made me think she was legit because she knew everything.