First and Last F-1 race you have been to?

So for a while there has been a lot of talk about who is the greatest driver, manufacturer, etc... but it would be interesting to see who's been to what races and when.

here's my take:

Watkins Glen 1968 was my first race

Austin 2021 was my last. ( Quali only. ) full race was Austin 2019.

next?

 

Mosport 1976
Indy 2001

 

2007 Silverstone - Kimi wins
2016 Barcelona - Max's first race for Red Bull and his first win.

 

Watkins Glen 1973
Austin 2013(will not attend races of the hybrid formula)

 

First and last race was COTA 2012.

I too didn't want to attend the turbo-hybrid era.

 

My first F1 Race was Istanbul, 2011. The last was India, 2012. Both won by Sebastian Vettel btw.

 

Montreal 1978 - Montreal 2019 (Pirro sabotaged). I find this amazing because I’m only 32 ….

Have tickets for Montreal 2022 but BA.2 is starting to ramp up. Nuts.

 

Belgian GP 1961; Phil Hill winner on Ferrari

British GP 1999, David Coulthard winner on McLaren

 

I just can't justify spending the ticket price to be there in person when I can watch in the comfort of my own home for free.

F1 is no different than baseball, football, soccer, basketball, skeet shooting, underwater basket weaving,...
Music concerts seem to be the only exception.

 

I used to attend GPs when they were not on TV, and hardly reported in the newspapers.

Tickets were affordable and the atmosphere was convivial with spectators camping around the circuits, etc ...

But since F1 is very well covered on TV now, I much prefer to watch them from the comfort of home.

Public expectation has gone up a lot, pushing the tickets to exhorbitant prices now. Same for many sports.

 

The Belgian G.P., 1978, was my first, where I saw the real G.O.A.T. win the race and go on to win the World Championship that year.

Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

First 1963 Watkins Glen
Last the last year at Indy

 

first gp was monaco 1973
last was mexico 2019

 

First was Montreal 1992, last was Montreal 2013. I have skipped the turbo-hybrid area after going to 22 races in person.

 

South Africa 1969
Australia 2019

 

I think I paid 250 euros for my tickets for spain (each). Another 20 euros for parking for 3 days (total). I could bring 1 under 16 per ticket as well, so I brought my twin brothers. I had pretty good seats in Turn 12, so I could see the cars approach turn 10, 11, 12 13, into the left right. There was also a big tv in front of us.

I think 80 euros a day is acceptable to pay for F1 tickets. On the Thursday they also had a small event, can walk the pitlane, see the teams practice pitstops, some people queuing for driver autographs (didn't do that), activity center thing set up where you can do reaction tests and racing sims...annoyingly I did the racing sim. Won it. Fastest lap of each day would enter a final shootout on Sunday and get free paddock club tickets to the Spanish GP the year after if they won. I got the call when I was already nearly home. I'm still annoyed with the guy that ran it for saying I should go back because my lap was over a second faster than the next or something...

 

First race France 1982 (Le Castellet) - not even sure of the last one, probably Hungary 1996...
I was still a student in 1982, so even if the ticket was a lot of money for me at the time, it was certainly dirt cheap compared to nowadays prices.

 

Hockenheim GP 1979

Montreal 2019

Haven't travelled by airline since the beginning of the pandemic. Wanted to go back to Montreal this year but timing didn't pan out. So I'm planning for Montreal or Miami next year. Need to get back into the groove.

 

BTW: I love the fact that there are some really old dudes and one eternally 32 years young lady are on here. Suddenly I don't feel so old anymore.

 

Thanks for the responses - It's interesting to me how long folks have been following F-1 - and what all they have seen!

I did some counting - I think I have been to 103 F- 1 races, and have 84 programs collected over the years. some years when working with my dad we did not get a program.... for whatever reason. Now that he's gone I treasure those memories even more.

some of the best races I can remember are: Watkins glen 1977 - Lauda 3rd - last time he drove for Ferrari. Watkins Glen 1979 - Villeneuve in the rain, Imola 1987, my first time there & loved it. Monza 1989 - Prost winning and announcing he was going to Ferrari... Monaco 1990 - meeting Prince Renier, Albert and Stephanie... 1995 Canada - Alesi's first and only F-1 win. 1976 Watkins glen - seeing Lauda fresh from Monza - with his scars and no hair... spooky.
Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

First was Indy 2007, Hamilton wins

Last was Canada 2011, Button wins


Cool Topic.

 

Wow, you beat me by a long shot. I've been to about 35 races so far. Just the other day I threw away all the programs. Didn't really care anymore other than the very early ones which are like time capsules when there was still alcohol and tobacco advertisements and a Ferrari 308 was the latest new car. Alongside a Lambo Countach.

 

103! That's a huge number. That's nearly 10% of total F1 races ever...super impressive.

PS wrong shirt on the last pic

 

My first was an unusual one: the very last non Championship GP, the last race of Champions at Brands Hatch April 10 1983 won by Rosberg after Arnoux, the sole Ferrari and Sullivan featured strongly.
It was both Stefan Johansson's and Honda's turbo debut with the small Spirit team.
I walked miles from the nearest train station to the circuit.

I saw my first GP in the same place later that year, the European GP won by Piquet.
This time I helicoptered in with my father and the CEO of BMW UK, a bit better

The last one I saw in person was Imola 2006 which was also Schumacher's last Ferrari victory in Italy. A great experience to live in person though I bought a bad sandwich and was sick thereafter.