Your first F1 race

[AdrianSutil]

With the amount of members on here posting at a regular interval, it would be interesting to see when we got our first taste of F1 on TV, so:

Italy 1995.

I was 8. Remember flicking through the channels on my telly whilst my parents were in the kitchen and coming across a programme with very loud and very fast weird looking cars. I was hooked immediately. I can still remember Luca Badoer losing the back end and hitting the inside Armco between the two lesmo corners, and of course, Hill and Schumacher's famous crash.

The thing that got it for me though, weirdly, was how amazed Murray Walker was at confirming Boullion's 6th place

[madmark1974]

This is quite a tricky one to answer for me as it was so long ago, my Dad used to work for Lotus in the mid-1970s (road car division but on the same site as the F1 team) so we've always had F1 on.
Not too sure how much coverage there was on the BBC in the 1970s, I guess evening highlights only except for the British GP. I remember seeing a fair bit of Alan Jones' championship season in 1980,
so maybe that was the first year of 'proper' coverage.

Both of my children have seen an F1 race within their first couple of weeks of life, though of course they won't have remembered it ... My son watches it a bit but can't sit there and watch a whole
race, especially when his sister wants to play (he's 5 and she's 2-coming-up-to-3), but he knows most of the drivers by their cars and helmet colours. He really got into watching F1 in 2009 and his
favourite driver became Rubens, I guess because he liked the colour of the Brawn car and it was mostly at the front of the field so was usually on screen. He knows 'Vettel is the fastest' and that 'we
don't like the red cars', and that Schumacher needs to 'get off' ... am I setting a bad example????

[FullMetalJack]

I watched bits of races back in the late 90s, and Hill became my favourite.

First race I watched in full was the 2004 Australian Grand Prix.

[Alianora La Canta]

France 1993.

I was playing football outside on my own when it suddenly started pouring with rain. Deciding that it was too wet even for my liking, I ambled into my house, trailing water. I was just thinking of going upstairs when I spotted something interesting on the TV (which my parents and brother were already watching). A quite bizarre noise was emanating from the TV speakers, accompanied by a load of brightly-coloured pointy things moving around the screen at a rate of knots. I sat down, tried to decipher Murray Walker's words and eventually managed to decipher that those two pointy things that seemed to be doing rather well and were in my favourite colour were Williamses. Better still, they were driven by people with nice easy names to pronounce like Hill and Prost. By the end of the race, I'd decided I was a Damon Hill fan. I still remember having a dream that night that he was going to be world champion in three years. Following which I wondered, "What's a world championship and why would anyone want one?"

Due to my completely lousy timekeeping, the next time I saw a F1 race was San Marino 1994 (and the first I saw in full was Spain 1994). Everyone else in my family had been watching F1 for some time (Dad had been inducted into the ranks of F1 fans by his dad) and they were happy to help convert the last member of the family.

[James1978]

I remember often watching the Monaco GP through the 80s as I loved the place, but didn't much notice of who the drivers and cars were. My sister's birthday is May 31, and she usually had her party on a Sunday which often coincided with the race taking place which we had on the TV. (I can say 1987 for definite, and 1984 and 1990 were also very likely).

I sort of started taking notice to drivers around 1989/90, but my first season of following it properly was 1991 - even though it was as much by accident as anything else, I was waiting for the World Championship Snooker (!) to come on Grandstand after the San Marino GP had finished. I don't know if it was just because it was a mad wet/dry race but I was hooked from then (and the fact that loads of big names all made bids for the imaginary Reject of the Race in the first few laps!). I watched every race that season from then except Mexico (even saw highlights of Canada).

Then by 1992 I was getting magazines, borrowing books from the library and starting to collect the back catalogue of year review videos from the 80s - though weirdly it took me until 2002 to buy the 1981 review for some unknown reason! (I'm proud that I have every year review video from 1981 - 2003 and every DVD from 2004 - 2010, though again I didn't buy 2002 at the time due to it being such a boring season, my OCD later on meant I had to have it though)

[madmark1974]

Then by 1992 I was getting magazines, borrowing books from the library and starting to collect the back catalogue of year review videos from the 80s - though weirdly it took me until 2002 to buy the 1981 review for some unknown reason! (I'm proud that I have every year review video from 1981 - 2003 and every DVD from 2004 - 2010, though again I didn't buy 2002 at the time due to it being such a boring season, my OCD later on meant I had to have it though)

I also have all of the season review videos from 1981 onwards, but stopped with 1999 as I didn't want to watch Schumacher and Ferrari winning. I must transfer them onto DVD sometime ...

[dr-baker]

I can't remember exactly, but it was at a similar time to Alianora la Canta (nice to see you posting on here again! Wondered what happened to you...). My dad often and regularly watched F1. I suppose my interest became aroused slightly in 1992 with Mansell, then took more of an interest in 1993, where I actually wanted to watch the races. Cna't remember how many I watched that year, but because Mansell had drawn me in, my alligence would have moved to Damon Hill for 1993 - same team and nationality etc. Bought my first ever F1 magazine at the start of 1994 - F1 News's 1994 season preview. Watched most races that year, but for Australia, I decided that I would watch the replay at lunchtime, despite knowing it was a championship decider. I thought in those days that I would be able to avoid the results but no. They mentioned it on the radio briefly just before I went to church. I have only rarely missed a race during my night since. Although I did miss Imola 1994 live because I was visiting my grandmother that day. I remember the BBC 6 o'clock being put on and Senna being the lead news story.

[AndreaModa]

Christ I haven't a clue, I know my dad, and sometimes my mum would sit down and watch the races on Grandstand on a sunday afternoon circa '91 onwards, I can only really remember watching races from around '95 onwards and being frustrated at Hill crashing out all the time, but for me to have been frustrated must have meant I'd been watching earlier races so who knows when my first race was? Maybe sometime in 93. Bearing in mind I was born in 1990 so I was pretty young!

[fjackdaw]

I came to it quite late too. My dad and brother were fans for a while, I can't remember how long. I wasn't a fan when I saw Imola '94 live (though I did have a premonition that something bad was about to happen any moment - probably not hard with everything else that had been going on that weekend).

I started drifting into it bored at home on Sunday afternoons while away at college - I remember flicking through the four channels on my little black and white portable TV set, trying to find something to watch, and skipping past it because it was sport (boring!), but somehow eventually being sucked in by the energy and excitement of it. I couple of times I happened to catch it and stayed watching, a bit aloof, but after a while I began tuning in deliberately.

While I was home for the summer, it took me a while to admit that I was now interested in a sport. I contrived to hang around the living room reading a book while my brother and dad were watching it, but one race weekend they were both out so I had to admit to my mum that I actually wanted to go out of my way to see it. What a repressed fellow.

In those pre-internet, pre-build-up-show days, one of the things which gripped my imagination was what the drivers might look like... I had my own ideas from their names, but often it was hard to find pictures of them around the place without going out and buying magazines. I think that's what got me into the more obscure drivers, and ultimately the F1 rejects - everyone knew what Hill, Schumacher, Hakkinen, Alesi, etc. looked like, they were always seen... but it would take a while to catch a glimpse of Luca Badoer or Olivier Panis. Frentzen in particular surprised me, I didn't expect him to look like that at all.

[Myrvold]

I don't know. Born in 1991, and I seem to recall a Williams leading at some track that later would remind be of Imola. And with Rothmans livery, I just cannot remember who was second. I guess it was in 95 or 96, because it was a high nose.

Anyway, I really started following F1 in 98. Missed some races in 02,03,04 and 05 when I raced pretty serious myself. But other than that. I've seen every single race since Melbourne 98

[tommykl]

I don't know when I first saw an F1 race on TV. I know that I had seen a few races when I was young (I knew both Schumacher, Barrichello and Montoya), but the first race I actually remember watching was Brazil 2004. I was 8. We were moving from Sevenoaks to Kuala Lumpur (yes, you did read that correctly), and we turned on the TV to see if anything was on. All I remember was seeing Timo Glock in the Jordan, then wondering where he was when I subsequently bought F1 04, where my true underdog spirit made sure that HWNSNBM became my favourite driver.

[DanielPT]

I can't recall when I saw my first formula 1 races, but I think I has very little (watched them with my dad) since I remember wanting to go to Estoril with my father to watch some race (I thought it was F1, that is why I wanted to go) but only much older I found out it was sports cars. So I know I already loved F1 in the late 80's but I only recall a few episodes such as Senna and Prost clashes at Japan in both in 1989 and 1990 from seeing it in news highlights. So my first F1 races must have been sooner. The first races I recall are some from 1992. My memory isn't that great so before 1992 it is all very cloudy with only a few personal recollections and some big ones like the ones mentioned before (and like the fall of the Berlin wall).

[Londoner]

As I've mentioned a few times before, the first F1 race that I can definitely remember watching part of was the ill-fated 1999 British Grand Prix, as a 4 year old. I can remember watching a few bits and pieces of other races that season, but I'm not sure what ones exactly (knowing my luck, I probably watched Badoer's heartbreaking retirement at the Nurburgring, and thought nothing about it at the time).

I cannot remember watching any races in 2000, though I assume that I probably did. First season that I followed properly was 2001, watching the Malaysian, Brazilian, Spanish, Austrian, Monaco, Canadian, European, British, German, Belgian, Italian and United States Grands Prix. Somehow, I perservered through the snorefest and Ferrari plaything ( ) that was the 2002 season, and I have watched nearly every race live since then.

[QuickYoda41]

My first F1 race was Monaco 1998, I will always remember the Schumacher-Wurz clash and Alesi stopping just a few laps before the finish, and that I actually thought Monaco was an ordinary race track and there must be a tunnel on each and every circuit. The next few races all were a little bit disappointing. Anyway, from that race I watched the races regularly, though I remember skipping for example Canada '98 (there was a big storm and my grandma didn't let us to watch it) and Nurburgring '99 (we probably weren't at home, shame - I watched the race obviously since then )

Before that my dad wasn't an F1-fan, though he hated Ferrari before, but he started to watch it with us (my brother and me). Meanwhile my mum had a great nap time on sunday afternoons, and always woke up when the anthem was played for the winner. (She likes Vettel now (calls him "the little kid" ), so it's better she doesn't watch the whole race )

What is really interesting: until I was 11, we lived pretty close to the Hungaroring, we could actually hear the F-1 cars on those weekends, but I don't remember hearing them before I found out about Formula One.

Interestingly, my first favourite was Schumacher (his name rang a bell somehow), I think, the turning point was around Spa '98, but I'm not exactly sure. In 1999 I wanted Irvine to be champion, but I only became a real fan of any driver (and team) after Brazil '01 (Heidfeld/Sauber).

And one more thing I want to mention: we had F1-cards with 1992 cars and drivers - with my brother we always made them run full races around the room and had championships. Of course we had the known drivers (i.e. who were still racing around 1998) as the best ones, so Damon Hill was pretty successful even in the Brabham, and as we only had one Brabham and one Andrea Moda on the cards, we made them to be teammates, so Moreno and Andrea Moda on the podium happened quite a few times.

[Klon]

And one more thing I want to mention: we had F1-cards with 1992 cars and drivers - with my brother we always made them run full races around the room and had championships. Of course we had the known drivers (i.e. who were still racing around 1998) as the best ones, so Damon Hill was pretty successful even in the Brabham, and as we only had one Brabham and one Andrea Moda on the cards, we made them to be teammates, so Moreno and Andrea Moda on the podium happened quite a few times.

Yeeeeeees! So, I'm not the only one who ever did that.

Well, the first race I can actually vaguely remember seeing was the 1997 European Grand Prix - that, come to think about it, might explain why I always hated Schumacher as a child and cheered on Mika Häkkinen. Obviously, the following Schumacher domination caused me to leave F1 with only occasional races in between like the 2002 French Grand Prix and the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix in parts. My full-time return to Formula 1 came during the 2007 Turkish Grand Prix ... makes me wonder what in that race has caused me to stick around?

[nome66]

my first f1 race was....uuummm.... wait why did i post in this thread?

[Nessafox]

well i've seen parts of F1 races from 1993 on i think (as i do remember 2 blue williamses and a yellow benetton 'with a weird nose' as it didn't quite look like toy cars or the ones i built with Lego ) but the first race i saw from start to finish was Belgium 1997, the second was Jerez 1997, first full season 1998.
From those early years i did remember the Loews corner at monaco as it looked a bit weird compared to other circuits, and knew some names of cars and drivers. I also knew i liked 'the cars with fluorescent green wings' which turned out to be Minardi's, and not that fluorescent actually. But i only realised that later, as i was only fully Minardi-fan since Nurburgring1999, but it was defenitely a sign. Also i thought the name 'Forti-Ford' sounded funny and that the name Katayama sounded great

Before that, i only knew F1 from Pictures and Toys.

[TomWazzleshaw]

... makes me wonder what in that race has caused me to stick around?

I'm fairly certain that was the race where a Mr L. Hamilton had a mid-race puncture.

Anyways I was introduced to F1 through the V8 Supercar coverage at Bathurst. You see, before the V8s went to Channel 7, Channel 10 was the "Home of Motorsport" and the Bathurst 1000 was INVARIABLY on the same day as the Japanese GP. Having been hooked onto the V8s after watching parts of the 2003 Sandown 500 and having the official DVD for that year's 1000, I decided to watch the 2004 Bathurst 1000 and, lo and behold, the Japanese GP was right after the race but I only remember very small bits of it. During the off-season I spent many a late night finding out about the history of Formula 1 and before the 2005 pre-season I found this website and the rest, they say, is history. The first race I remember watching was the 2005 Australian GP with the storm in the middle of qualifying jumbling up the grid and what not. Which probably explains why I initally became a Renault fan.

[Alianora La Canta]

dr-baker, I've had a bit of a rough summer concerning F1 support. Too many bad experiences with certain other fans and journalists. I've been writing sporadically (and maintained presences on Twitter and the more-or-less-all-sportscars forum I use) but it's been difficult writing consistently in any of the usual F1 places, even ones like F1 Rejects where everyone was sensible. I'm managing to get back into it, but my blog (among some other places where I used to write a lot) still hasn't recovered...

I also have to admit that like tommykl, I've missed some races. The last race I didn't see live was the last half of Korea this year. The last one I missed completely was China 2008 - when the highlights show the excitement of the race was someone being unable to lap someone else for half a lap, it's probably not worth watching the whole race! Both misses were due to swimming galas (which also led me to miss a decent number of other races "live" between 1996 and 2003). Austria 2002 was a particularly memorable one - a local gala meant I missed the race and had to watch the video the next day. But there was school in between. One of the staff was keen to discuss the Ferrari incident with everyone and I had to very hurridly point out that I hadn't had chance to see the race. So it was partly-spoilered: I knew Ferrari had done something a bit dim but not what (and I certainly didn't guess what actually happened until about 12 laps before the end)...

[Barbazza]

The first that I can remember clearly is Monaco 1982 but given the spectacular nature of that race it probably stuck in the mind more than others. I definitely remember watching the news report about Villeneuve's death and I knew who he was. I'm pretty sure I saw Williams vs Ligier vs Brabham (Jones, Laffite, Piquet) battles so I guess I must have seen races in 1980 and 1981 too.

[Aerond]

I can remember sometime in 1992 being my very first F1 experience on telly. Then, I´ve seen almost every GP since Canada 1994.

[tristan1117]

I clearly remember my first F1 race. It was 2002, in the midst of Ferrari domination and my dad had recorded (on VHS) the first race of the season in Australia. At the first turn, Barrichello ramped over Ralf Schumacher and caused a massive pileup, and I was hooked. I don't think I have skipped many races since then (I do not remember watching the end of the 2002 season, for that matter) but I've been watching every race I can since then (I even forced my family to switch cable companies so I could still receive SPEED).

[Salamander]

The first one I can remember was Australia 2000, but the first GP that began to steer me properly into F1 was France 2005. Not the most exciting race, but it was the only decent racing on TV at the time, and later races would prove good enough to get me hooked

[midgrid]

The first race I remember watching at least part of was the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix. I remember Mika Salo running in fourth place, Badoer's Forti parked before the tunnel after he collided with Villeneuve, and Fisichella being pronounced "Fishichella" by one of the commentators. I did however receive a book previewing the 1996 season as a present, so I must have had some sort of interest in the sport beforehand. I have some other memories of the 1996 season: one of the Ferraris slowing early in the British Grand Prix and being overtaking by the whole field, even the weird green, black and white cars at the back; Diniz making a pit stop somewhere; and Murray Walker shouting about Hill's shock retirement from the Italian Grand Prix. The first race I remember watching in its entirety was the 1997 Australian Grand Prix, and I've seen every race since then, either live or recorded if I was away on holiday or similar.

Like many British viewers, most of my early memories are closely tied to Murray Walker's commentary.

[DOSBoot]

Hmmmm....that's a tough one to remember. I recall watching the Canadian Grand Prix sometime in the late 1990s. But I'm not sure which one. (I hope I'm not getting it confused over a CART race. ) I also remember seeing bits of Monaco at one time, and thinking to myself "Woah, that's cool!" But I didn't really start getting into it until around 2008. Before then, I was a WRC fan, which was kind of unusual where I lived, because I was in deep NASCAR fan territory. (A motorsport which I always found a bit boring in my opinion.) WRC I thought was always entertaining to watch, and I was captivated by the talents Colin McRae, and Petter Solberg. But when the Speed channel dropped the coverage, and Loeb started dominating, it gradually drew me off, and I had to look for an alternative. I caught the 2008 European GP, and found the nitch I was looking for.

I checked out the races sporatically, seeing the 2008 Japanese GP, and the finale at Brazil. I wanted Massa to win, but sadly, it wasn't meant to be. However the excitement did get me interested enough to check out how the following year went. In the meantime, I did my research on the sport, and I was surprised to find out that my country not had only one, but two World Champions. I then caught the 2009 Australian GP, was surprised to see Jenson Button on pole. I have always been a bit of an underdog person, so naturally I wanted him to win the race. He did, and I've been hooked ever since.

[dr-baker]

dr-baker, I've had a bit of a rough summer concerning F1 support. Too many bad experiences with certain other fans and journalists. I've been writing sporadically (and maintained presences on Twitter and the more-or-less-all-sportscars forum I use) but it's been difficult writing consistently in any of the usual F1 places, even ones like F1 Rejects where everyone was sensible. I'm managing to get back into it, but my blog (among some other places where I used to write a lot) still hasn't recovered...

...

Well, as I said, it's nice to see you back. I did wonder...

And only a few seem to have got into F1 in the pre-Schumacher/Barrichello era...

[Mister Fungus]

I have no idea, my dad watched (and still watches) every race since before I was born so I'm pretty sure I watched many races but wasn't really aware of what's going on. I remember when Senna died for instance and when Schumacher was the new kid on the block, but the first season I really remember and which I have grasped was 1997, and the race I still vividly remember is Jerez 1997 so I'll go with that.

[Phoenix]

I don't remember what was my first F1 race, but it was on 2000 I believe. I don't remember much but I thought McLaren was pretty sensational and I loved their grey/black West livery. I thought they had the best looking car on the grid and that was enough for me to become a fan of them, which I still am. By that time I already followed rally racing but still I knew very little about F1 until I began to get interested in the history and facts of the sport in 2004, when I knew the drivers and venues and was firmly rooting for Fernando Alonso, which I still do. I remember being very surprised when I learnt Jacques Villenuve was once a World Champion. Also, when I looked up for the guy who was World Champion the year I was born, when I saw that Nigel Mansell only won once, the disinformed version of myself thought: "What a disappointment, I bet this guy isn't that special." How wrong I was...

[RonDenisDeletraz]

The first full race I can remember watching was the 2004 Japanese GP (even though I had probably watched a couple races before that and I knew that before 2004 the rough order of the teams was Ferrari-Mclaren-Williams). 6 year old me instantly became a Sauber fan because their car had an epic livery. I have only missed one race since, the 2006 Hungarian GP (my DVD recorder broke)

[AdrianSutil]

The first race I remember watching at least part of was the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix. I remember Mika Salo running in fourth place, Badoer's Forti parked before the tunnel after he collided with Villeneuve, and Fisichella being pronounced "Fishichella" by one of the commentators. I did however receive a book previewing the 1996 season as a present, so I must have had some sort of interest in the sport beforehand. I have some other memories of the 1996 season: one of the Ferraris slowing early in the British Grand Prix and being overtaking by the whole field, even the weird green, black and white cars at the back; Diniz making a pit stop somewhere; and Murray Walker shouting about Hill's shock retirement from the Italian Grand Prix. The first race I remember watching in its entirety was the 1997 Australian Grand Prix, and I've seen every race since then, either live or recorded if I was away on holiday or similar.

Like many British viewers, most of my early memories are closely tied to Murray Walker's commentary.

Forti's Shannon livery? I may be alone here, but I loved that livery.

[midgrid]

The first race I remember watching at least part of was the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix. I remember Mika Salo running in fourth place, Badoer's Forti parked before the tunnel after he collided with Villeneuve, and Fisichella being pronounced "Fishichella" by one of the commentators. I did however receive a book previewing the 1996 season as a present, so I must have had some sort of interest in the sport beforehand. I have some other memories of the 1996 season: one of the Ferraris slowing early in the British Grand Prix and being overtaking by the whole field, even the weird green, black and white cars at the back; Diniz making a pit stop somewhere; and Murray Walker shouting about Hill's shock retirement from the Italian Grand Prix. The first race I remember watching in its entirety was the 1997 Australian Grand Prix, and I've seen every race since then, either live or recorded if I was away on holiday or similar.

Like many British viewers, most of my early memories are closely tied to Murray Walker's commentary.

Forti's Shannon livery? I may be alone here, but I loved that livery.

No, the Minardi livery. I specifically omitted red from the list!

Plus neither Forti qualified for the British GP.

[AdrianSutil]

The first race I remember watching at least part of was the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix. I remember Mika Salo running in fourth place, Badoer's Forti parked before the tunnel after he collided with Villeneuve, and Fisichella being pronounced "Fishichella" by one of the commentators. I did however receive a book previewing the 1996 season as a present, so I must have had some sort of interest in the sport beforehand. I have some other memories of the 1996 season: one of the Ferraris slowing early in the British Grand Prix and being overtaking by the whole field, even the weird green, black and white cars at the back; Diniz making a pit stop somewhere; and Murray Walker shouting about Hill's shock retirement from the Italian Grand Prix. The first race I remember watching in its entirety was the 1997 Australian Grand Prix, and I've seen every race since then, either live or recorded if I was away on holiday or similar.

Like many British viewers, most of my early memories are closely tied to Murray Walker's commentary.

Forti's Shannon livery? I may be alone here, but I loved that livery.

No, the Minardi livery. I specifically omitted red from the list!

Plus neither Forti qualified for the British GP.

Ah, epic fail on my part. Forti were virtually dead by then.

[Aerospeed]

To be honest, my first grand prix was in 2006. I believe it was Britain 2006. I was on vacation to Edmonton when we returned from Breakfast. I believe it was about 9:15, 9:30, and I'm scanning the channels, all of the sudden I see the race going on, and I say "what the heck is this?" and I watch the end of the race. It also helped that JV placed 8th, and back then I didn't know very much about his fallout with BAR but I didn't care since I was a bit of a nationalist and cheering for every single Canadian thing you could think of! I watched some other races here and there, namely Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy and then Brazil. My first full season was in 2007. Considering I've only been a racing fan for a few years it takes up a lot of my time nowadays

[Klon]

I'm fairly certain that was the race where a Mr L. Hamilton had a mid-race puncture.

Hahaha, that's a good one.
Although that cannot be it since I haven't heard the name "Lewis Hamilton" before said race.

[Warren Hughes]

No idea when I first saw F1 on TV, but it must have been the early 90s (born 1989) because at a very young age I thought that it was only Mansell and Senna that ever won. I must have had a strange interest in the back of the grid even from a young age, because as a five- or six-year old I remember racing a sit-on toy car around the garden against opponents like Wendlinger and Boullion!

[dr-baker]

No idea when I first saw F1 on TV, but it must have been the early 90s (born 1989) because at a very young age I thought that it was only Mansell and Senna that ever won. I must have had a strange interest in the back of the grid even from a young age, because as a five- or six-year old I remember racing a sit-on toy car around the garden against opponents like Wendlinger and Boullion!

Huh? You weren't aware of le Professeur, Monsieur Alain Prost?

[DanielPT]

No idea when I first saw F1 on TV, but it must have been the early 90s (born 1989) because at a very young age I thought that it was only Mansell and Senna that ever won. I must have had a strange interest in the back of the grid even from a young age, because as a five- or six-year old I remember racing a sit-on toy car around the garden against opponents like Wendlinger and Boullion!

Huh? You weren't aware of le Professeur, Monsieur Alain Prost?

I can understand him. My father only spoke highly of Senna and belittled everyone else. After 92 when Prost came back he eventually admitted that "Prost is actually quite good" almost immediately adding "but Senna is better". I grew up with this in mind. Also, both he and my uncle spoke from the good old days where Piquet dominated the scene and my father in particular thought that Lauda was also amazing. My father generation was also heavily influenced by the one that came before and many people had a saying (it then transformed itself in a saying) that when you drove fast people would usually say "Who do you think you are? Fangio?". Obviously this made no sense for my father generation since pretty much no one had seen Fangio race so they replaced Fangio by a newer, cooler, contemporary driver: "Look at him, trying to be like Fittipaldi!" became the de facto sentence. So only later I discovered other amazing drivers that existed, but such "brainwashing" had taken its toll, so I built huge respect and love for these drivers. And for Mansell, of course, whom I enjoyed because he had a moustache very similar to the one my father still has, so perhaps physically I saw a bit of my father in him and grew to like him. He also won often, which was important at the time. My father never was a F1 die hard fan and never followed thoroughly only seeing the European races at lunch time. He still sees one race from time to time, but never with full attention. And I can understand him since I was there when his love, awe and amazement for F1 died. It started as a Sunny day that first of May, 1994...

[Warren Hughes]

No idea when I first saw F1 on TV, but it must have been the early 90s (born 1989) because at a very young age I thought that it was only Mansell and Senna that ever won. I must have had a strange interest in the back of the grid even from a young age, because as a five- or six-year old I remember racing a sit-on toy car around the garden against opponents like Wendlinger and Boullion!

Huh? You weren't aware of le Professeur, Monsieur Alain Prost?

Were I 10 years older, I think I would have been a Prost fan, but 1993, in theory, would be the only year I was really aware of him. But I don't remember watching him at all.

[jpm]

The Austrian Grand Prix 2001, hence my avatar

[dinizintheoven]

I can remember it very well. I was coming down the stairs and suddenly... crunch! For some unknown reason my big toe folded under the rest of my foot and I put all my weight on it. There I sat, dipping it in a bowl of hot water to see if the pain caused by the hot water would override the pain caused by having just put all my weight on one toe, I put the TV on, and there was a Grand Prix. Nigel Mansell was the only driver I knew of beforehand, and that he'd driven a blue, white and yellow car. In the race I saw, there were these two drivers called "Prost" and "Senna" who were having a right old ding-dong with each other. It was 1990, I was ten years old, hence it was the first half of the season (before I hit 11), and I ended up watching the rest of the races, with one of my earliest memories being Nige throwing his helmet and gloves into the crowd and announcing his retirement - which was at Silverstone. Piecing together the evidence, that first race must have been before the British Grand Prix, but with Prost and Senna involved in a race-long battle, and my conclusion from looking through the Forix archives was that the first race I saw was in Canada.

I then set off on a quest to try to find out who all the drivers were, what their nationalities were, and which teams they drove for. Some were easy enough, such as the Prosts, Sennas and Mansells who appeared on the screen every few seconds, but seeing a clip of Yannick Dalmas or JJ Lehto was a rare occurrence indeed. In fact, I had no idea who Lehto had driven for that year until I had access to the internet in 1997. And then, only then, did I ever hear about the existence of Life - the BBC did have the good courtesy to mention Bertrand Gachot's disastrous season with Coloni in their 1991 Season Guide, so I knew who he was, I knew who Coloni were, and the name of Pedro Chaves would soon become infamous...