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Born in '58, my first clear memory is the 1970 Rindt tragedy in Monza. Some few confused memories before...

Hey, OB1....
we have a new club president! The PF1 Geriatrics Club is alive & well, though I still am counting on one (or more) of our ladies of the forum to assist us geezers when we are in need.

All hail, spiritone! Until someone old shows up that is.... Fame at the top can be fleeting, Pres!

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Forza Ferrari
WCCs = 16
WDCs = 15

Yeah Blake, he has us both for age so I guess we make him head of the Geriatric club till someone older turns up.

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Champions are made from something they have deep inside of them - a desire, a dream, a vision. They have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have the skill & the will but the will must be stronger than the skill. Muhammad Ali

Started following when Graham Hill was driving for Lotus, although I can't remember what the event was, I was at Brands Hatch when the news came over the tannoy that Jim Clark had just been killed in an F2 race at Hockenhiem.

Spent a lot of my youth at Brands and saw some epic races and horrifying incidents. A couple stick in my mind, my all time favourite being the Pedro Rodriguez Gulf 917 drive in the BOAC 1000kms 1970 race (google it on youtube)! Consequently he is my all time favourite driver.

The lows being when I saw Jo Siffert die in the BRM P160 reduced me to tears!

So I have been following for more years than I care to mention.


TBWG

PS I have a soft spot for Ricardo Patrese's win at Monaco 1982. The excitement of the race triggered my wife's labour and we had to rush off to the hospital for the birth of my 2nd son!

The Beatrice Lola team didn't last much longer!

TBWG

The earliest memory I have was watching Damon Hill win at Suzuka 96... However, I was already a big Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill fan by this point, I just dont have any memory of watching F1 before that.

By the early 2000's I had lost interest and then started watching again midway through 2009 and have watched every race since. I have seen all the seasons I missed though, there was a certain channel online broadcasting whole seasons, was also a (now shutdown sadly) Classic F1 channel on youtube that had full races.

November 1973. I got to Watkins Glen four hours after Francois Cevert died in a crash in practice. Jackie Stewart, not yet then a 'Sir', withdrew from the race. Broke my heart, I really wanted to see him drive live, not just on TV. Have attended races at Watkins Glen, Montreal, and Detroit. 18 in all. Want to get to Silverstone, have many racing friends in the UK.

As a car obsessed child, I would watch Formula 1 (or any motorsport for that matter) an the telly while playing with my toy cars, but not really following it. The first Grand Prix I remember following properly was the condensed highlights of Monaco 1988, as we didn't get the races live on TV in New Zealand at the time. From then I was hooked, even getting very interested in the history of the sport. The first live GP I got to watch was Belgium 1990, my family were on holiday in Australia and my folks let me stay up and watch the race as a special treat. Didn't start watching the races live on a regular basis until the late 90s, when my parents got Sky. Didn't manage to get to a Grand Prix to watch live in the flesh until 2011, when I finally made it to Melbourne for that years Australian Grand Prix.

Born '78, the first season I can really remember was '86, though I distinctly remember my Saudi Leyland Williams Scaletrix cars. Dad woke me up to let me watch the Adelaide finale, only to be left heart broken when Mansell had the blow out. This was the same year as Maradona handballing England out of the WC too. These scars still hurt.

Contrary to what many might think about Brits on here, my generation grew up believing we were a nation of runners-up - never the winners, just gallant losers. Too young to remember Hunt, Stewart et al, or the English club domination in football, but not of the generation that has grown up with Hamilton and Button and Champions League winners. For an eight year old boy, it was hard to comprehend what felt to be such injustice.

And we had to listen to Bucks Fizz too . Tough times, I tell you, tough times.

Since around 1994. RIP Senna. (I was very young when it happened but I remember it a bit). Nigel Mansell is the best I can remember from, and the gold Jordan cars I liked so much even though they were not that fast.

My first GP was San Marino in 2004.

I was told to watch because Button was on pole in his BAR-Honda.

Was a good race that Schumacher won (obviously, it was 2004) with some really good performances from Fisichella and Raikkonen, which made me a fan of both until now.

I have watched almost every race since, no matter how dull they were when there was no overtaking.

When the drivers from '04 left F1 for different categories, I really got into all types of motorsport!

A bit tricky for me, but I'll try my best
When growing up my dad used to watch F1 but I wasn't interested, my dad eventually stopped watching during the Schumi era.
Later on in my life after many fun arcade racing games (Need for Speed: High Stakes in particular) I eventually got a V8 Supercars racing game. This got me interested in motorsport and I started following the V8 Supercar series.
A bout a year later my brother was going to the 2005 Australian GP to help in one of the display tents to promote a car he helped building. My dad and I decided to watch the race which I enjoyed. However I didn't continue watching for the whole season, only a few races here and there when nothing else was on TV, but I continued to watch the V8 series.
In 2006 towards the end of the season I started watching a couple of races, once again when nothing else was on. However after the season had finished I had an assignment at school, and I chose to base it around F1. I started to do some research and heard that Webber (the driver that I was supporting) was moving to Red Bull which I got excited about so I decided watch the 2007 season.
I watched most of the races that season except the ones at awkward times, I went mental at Nurburgring, then again at Fuji for two completely different reasons.
At the end of 2007 someone asked me "So you like F1 don't you, who's going to win in 2008" I looked at him and said "Hamilton". He seemed surprised hence the response "Really? why?" as to which I stopped examining the demon we just ran down to look at him in the eyes and replied "I don't know, just a feeling". He nodded his head in acknowledgment, at which point a dragon burst out of the volcano in the distance and with a deafening roar, lit the countryside in flames. We ran back to our truck to escape, but the recently run down demons horns had burst the tyres. So with my acquired F1 knowledge I changed all 4 tyres and filled up the tank in under 10 seconds, which was just enough time to evade the dragon soaring towards us. However the danger was not averted as the movement and dust from our truck caused the dragon to hone in on us, but with the knowledge of F1 racing and apexes thanks to Martin Brundle's insights I out raced the dragon back to a military occupied base.
Throughout the night was an epic battle of cannons, flames and firepower, but as dawn began to break it was evident that we were would not last much longer. At this point armed with my superior F1 strategy knowledge I marched to the front line and as a final stand ordered the men and women whos moral was at breaking point to man the fire extinguishers. As the dragon flew overhead we opened the hoses creating a vortex of foam, the dragon caught by surprised tried to bank but flew right into the canyons walls and fell down the chasm and back to the abyss from where it came. The men and women cheered Huzzah as the battle was won, and as the sun raised illuminating the battlefield in colours of red and orange we paid homage to those that paid the ultimate sacrifice. From that moment on I made a pledge, as it was F1 that saved us, I shall continue to watch in honour of those that had fallen.

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Danger is real, fear is choice.
PF1 Pick 10 Competition
Best Round Result: 1st (Monaco '12 & '15, Silverstone '14, Austria '15, Mexico '15, China '16)
Podiums: 11
2018 Championship Standing: As good as Max in China

^^^Spec, are you feeling ok? Or were you just seeing if we were paying attention?
Great story by the way.

P.s. instead of any more stories, please spend the next block of time writing up the final pick 10 results!

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PF1 Pick 10 Competition
Best Finish: 1st place, Austin 2013
Career: 4 podiums, 1 wins

Early nineties - Murray Walker's excited commentary drew me to the sport. But gradually lost interest when Schumacher kept winning race after race. I don't get much time to watch F1 now, but I have a keen interest on the lower to middle order teams just to see how they fare.

Been following F1 since it started in 1950.
The reason for this is that my father & grandfather were both motor sport fans as they worked in the motor trade.
I attended my first races in the late 40s as they took me every where with them.
I was in the Phoenix Park in 1949 when Harry Lindsay did the first 100 mph lap on 1000 cc Vincent.
I became a huge Fangio fan because my father was a fan of his.
Although we could not afford the car & the bike mag,s I used to get them as hand me downs from my fathers boss.
I would read them from cover to cover & the GP reports over & over.
It seemed back then the reporters were more lyrical as they tried to convey the excitement of the race. Striving for superlatives to try & explain a drivers performsnces.
I was hooked & have been ever since.
Times never change. I remember my grandad scathingly telling us that these modern drivers( the 50s) were all softies with their crash helmets & hydraulic brakes & their modern cars & that the boys in the early 1900s were real heroes.
& I could go on

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Champions are made from something they have deep inside of them - a desire, a dream, a vision. They have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have the skill & the will but the will must be stronger than the skill. Muhammad Ali

Since japan 96 born 91 watched it because my dad did and have nt stopped

I started watching in 1977, I grew up in South Africa and my dad took me to Kyalami for the 1977 grand prix, I was 10 years old and remember it well as a driver was killed that weekend(Tom Pryce) when he hit a fire marshal. Those were the best days to go and watch, every year my dad and his mates would take a caravan up 2 weeks before the race and just park it wherever you like basically, normally on sunset bend on the inside of the track.We would go up on the Friday and watch qualifying and in those days the race was on the Saturday.There was many an occasion when some of the adults didnt even see the race as they were passed out before 2pm! They would buy about 2 pit passes and we would take it in turns to go to the pits and you would bump into many of the drivers.On the Sunday I would go back up to the pits and all the teams had gone already but you could walk around and pick up any bits they had left behind, normally nuts and bolts, but got a piece of a wing once.
I can remember seeing the turbo Renaults before any other team had turbos, they would struggle all the way around until they got to the straight, then they just flew past everyone as the turbo kicked in.Its probably much better now in most ways but there was something liberating about it before it got so commercial and professional.

1990 Australian grand prix, i was 6 yrs old and was in love instantly by the sheer speed and sound o these cars. Not only that i was intrigued by who these drivers were, as I only had watched really NASCAR or v8 supercars with my dad. But straight away I could notice the skill of these supreme drivers, and even then could I see how much better senna was. From then on all I though about was f1 and ayrton senna, my mother went nuts at me because I used her nail polish to paint my matchbox f1s into there respected colors and she thought I was obsessed, I was glad though because when senna died 2 days before my 10 birthday it made my family stand up and take notice of the greatest ever formula one driver.