Favorite F1 Race you have attended

German GP 1981 in Hockenheim

Not that it was such a great race, but I managed to get press credentials and had full access to the pitlane during all sessions. Something unthinkable by today's standards.
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I was at that race as well. Small world.
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Monza 2006 - Schumi wins, championship is now very possible, Tifosi go mad ! Moments later he announced his retirement. The whole weekend was full of mixed emotions. A race weekend i will not forget!

 

Long Beach '82 was my first and allowed me close access (similar to what Andreas got in '81). I've always had a good time in Montreal.

 

Silverstone 2004 is the only time I have been to a F1 race and a Ferrari has won (MS) ,
When I was very young Mansell winning the European GP at Brands hatch in the T car with no water bottle, was cool.

Overall though the most memorable was Monaco 2002 the race immediately after the Austrian team orders debacle, the whole crowd (Ferrari fans included) were booing Jean Todt for the whole weekend and it ended with a close finish between MS and DC. Followed that race by driving down to Mugello for the Italian MotoGP at the height of the Rossi/Biaggi rivalry. Felt like being at a football match with two rival sets of supporters (the banter was very good natured).

 

USGP 2004. My first and only GP. Hell, it was the first auto race I ever saw in person. It was just about a perfect week as you can get. So much fun.


I'd love to post pictures but I don't think I can since I am not subscribed.

 

Monaco, because of the parties.

 

Monaco 1985. Watched it with the crazy Ferrari fans hanging on the mountain side in the Rocher below the castle. From there, you can just about see 3/4 of the track from the Tunnel to the Start/Finish line. Senna's engine blew up allowing Prost to win (the french went crazy) and Albereto finished second which was great for Ferrari in those dark days of the 80s'.

I really miss the F-1 races in Long Beach, particularly in 1979 watching the 312T's go by with Villenueve winning flag to flag and Scheckter coming in second . Villenueve made it look easy.

On the negative side, I was at the F-1 race in Phoenix which was perhaps the poorest venue ever.

 

1995 Canadian GP
After waiting an eternity for an Alesi win...it was like a Tifosi eruption.
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Ha, I went to that one as well. Here a shot of MS spinning (deliberately?) on Saturday.
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Montreal '99 and '05 (IIRC). Häkä and Räkä ruled, respectively. A lovely cosmopolitan atmosphere, beautiful scenery, great food and beautiful liberated women. The road trips there through NH and VT just added to the total experience. Those were the days.

 

Montreal 05, was great fun as you said:
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Monza 2005, despite that Ferrari got their ass handed to them in their own back yard.
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At least the noise was absolutely thundering at the end of the starting straight. Especially '90 had awesome parties all weekend, I remember a large Irish pub (but not its name anymore) where the men's room became spontaneously unisex because the line to the ladies room was so long. A number of women were in such a hurry that they had to resort to the urinals - real talent! Some with high heels had to be held up during the operation...

I recall Prost took the pole in a Ferrari that blew up in the race and Senna won in McLaren. And one Robert Lappalainen won the Trans Am race in a convincing fashion.

Instead of returning home on Monday, were drove straight to Vegas.

 

Donnington 1993. Senna put on a rain-driving clinic. IMHO, it was the best performance of Senna's F1 career.

 

Montreal 2008; took my whole family; went to the track with my Dad & our son; who ironically was going to his first F1 race at the same age I attended mine...
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Monza, and I do not remember the year (anyone?). But it was Ferrari's first win at the Italian GP for many years, and Michael did it for them. The Tifosi converged en mass on the front straight, with that huge cavallino flag, a vision I will never forget.

Before then, watching James Hunt win the WDC at Watkins Glen. since I was working the race, I did not comprehend who won the race and the championship.


(Nice photos Andreas, as usual)

 

That was Monza 1996; I have that race on VHS!! were you at the Glen in 1976? I will post more pictures in the watkins Glen thread...

 

Monza 2002, Ferrari 1-2 in Italy the atmosphere was great.

 

Kevin, check out the photos on the Glen thread and on the thread referred in my post. You will enjoy that thread. I used to go to the Glen as an official photog for years, that race with Hunt was my last, I moved to Arizona immediately after that race. He autographed a piston for me from Friday's blown engine from his McLaren, he laughed thinking that was the strangest autograph he had done.

 

yes you can!! please do!!

 

Probably the first GP I ever attended: Watkins Glen 1975. The weather was good; Niki Lauda scored Ferrari's first-ever USGP win, putting an exclamation point on his championship season (and I got his autograph!). Luca di Montezemolo (then the team manager) provided comic relief by arguing with course clerk Burdie Martin over Regazzoni's black flag, directly opposite from where I was sitting! My only regret is that I had a crappy GAF 110-format camera that gave extremely poor results.

Second is probably Montreal 1986, which I attended with my best friend Scott, his first GP, and we watched Mansell's dominant performance in the Williams-Honda, again under great weather. (In '89 we treated Scott's younger brother, Gary, to his first race as a high-school graduation present, and were delighted when Senna blew his engine right in front of us, allowing Thierry Boutsen to an unexpected win. Unfortunately, it rained that year, which is why I can't count this race up with the first two.)

 

It shows you my mind is going but I forgot that I crewed a Formula Atlantic race at the Montreal GP in 1986. It wasn't my favorite race but it certainly was the most unique for me.

A friend of mine was crew chief of a small single car team and he needed "free" mechanics to help him out. Of course, I volunteered. There's no refueling or pit stops so all of the work is in the prep and set ups before the race. Once it's started, the crew is just a bunch of spectators. Still, its remarkable how much work it really is.

Our race was just before the F-1 race. We didn't share the F-1 pits but we were at the very end of the pit straight. So, it was pretty cool because we were basically hanging around with the F-1 guys for three days.

I remember seeing the F-1 race from the end of the pits, which is really a pretty poor spot if you want to see any racing. I really couldn't tell much what was going on but it was a hell of a battle with Mansell and Prost.

It's the only time I've been to the Montreal GP and I thought the city, venue, people, restaurants, and ambience to be first rate. We would wear our pit passes on our uniforms and it was like having a key to the city.

 

I was also at Sliverstone 04, and i have an almost identical picture of Schumi spinning in practice as the one posted !! Kinda boring race tho, but always a joy to witness a Ferrari - Schumi victory !