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Following on from the 'how many Grands Prix have you watched', how many have you actually attended in person?

Feel free to include a list/anecdotes as well as your raw data, if you want to.

Seven.

Malaysia 2012, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17.
Australia 2016.

One, Silverstone 2012. It was rubbish. Overpriced general admission tickets (£600 for 2 adults and two teenagers) with video screens deliberately obscured for non grandstand people (black blinkers fitted to sides of screens). Had to arrive 7am to get any chance of seeing any of the track and only knew the race had started due to engine noise from afar.

Seven.

'02 Malayasia
'10 Hungary
'12 Bahrain
'14 & '16 Singapore
'14 & '15 Abu Dhabi

Not very many considering I first started watching F1 IN '87/'88. Despite being British never been to F1 at Silverstone, as always looked a nightmare logistically etc; though seen plenty BSB/WSB/MotoGP there. Lived in Middle East/Asia on and off, hence seen more there as cheaper and easier to attend generally.

StevoYZF wrote:Seven.

'02 Malayasia
'10 Hungary
'12 Bahrain
'14 & '16 Singapore
'14 & '15 Abu Dhabi

You've accrued a few frequent flyer points there..

Shamefully for me

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Five: Canada in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018, and USA in 2017.

Jezza13 wrote:Shamefully for me

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Same here. I am sure you get a different vibe, but the comfort of your sofa and the different shots sounds a bit more appealing.

Siao7 wrote:

Jezza13 wrote:Shamefully for me

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Same here. I am sure you get a different vibe, but the comfort of your sofa and the different shots sounds a bit more appealing.

For me I would have loved to be able to be a regular attendee but I had the 2 "f's" that diverted my desire for many years

Those 2 F's are finances & family.

One of my many regrets in life is that I never got to hear those mighty, wonderful N/A's screaming their heads off in the flesh. I can only imagine how they would have sounded for just over the other side of the fence.

Spa '08, '09, '10, '12, '14
Silverstone '11, '13, '14, '16, '17

Silverstone '13 and Spa '08 were just qualifying though, I happened to be in the area at the time.

Jezza13 wrote:

Siao7 wrote:

Jezza13 wrote:Shamefully for me

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Same here. I am sure you get a different vibe, but the comfort of your sofa and the different shots sounds a bit more appealing.

For me I would have loved to be able to be a regular attendee but I had the 2 "f's" that diverted my desire for many years

Those 2 F's are finances & family.

One of my many regrets in life is that I never got to hear those mighty, wonderful N/A's screaming their heads off in the flesh. I can only imagine how they would have sounded for just over the other side of the fence.

Me too. Especially given opportunities I had to go, but never had the money as a student at the time. Barcelona 2000 was one that escaped me because of that, would have been a good GP to attend too!

Silverstone: 2010, 2013, 2015, 2016

Spa: 2014

10+. A mixture of Silverstone, Brands Hatch and Spa. Lucky enough to live in Kent 50s to 70s, so Brands, Lydden, and dozens of speedway, grass track and other circuits all within an hours drive. Haven't attended a F1 race in the last 15 years. Like some others, found Silverstone bland, poor viewing, and a total rip off.

Been to Adelaide 93, 94, 95 Awesome event with non stop on track/air action and those screaming v12 Ferrari’s of 95 where unreal.
Being so long ago it did lack some big screens that are everywhere now and you did miss some action. The race was quite hard to follow as the cars were so loud. The track radio was hard to hear but we didn’t know any better at the time and just the thrill of seeing the cars go past was enough.

Finally got to Melbourne for 15, 17 and that was awesome as well, it is so well organised and the location is very well suited to a fun weekends partying
Probably won’t go again for a while until they fix the cars as the track is impossible to overtake.
Also they don’t have as much support categories as Adelaide did and the verity is very same same.
Back in the day they had top fuel drag cars, super karts, a heap of formula category’s, v8 Supercars, sports sedans and heaps more.

Adelaide supports started at like 730am and didn’t finish until 6 ish that evening, Melbourne is spaced out a lot more so the value isn’t as goo.

Basically when you get used of the current f1 cars they are just pretty boring and the senses don’t get excited to justify going to watch it live

Eight I believe from 1984-1990.

Two at Brands Hatch 1984 and 1985, 1985 was the European GP and Mansell's first win I believe?

The rest at Silverstone 1985-1990.

Belgium 2013
Awesome venue, bit if a dull race as Red Bull were utterly dominant. And it was the last yr of V8 noise. We had General Admission tickets and sat at the end of the Kemmel Straight so saw loads of action & overtaking. Traffic was a bit chaotic getting in & out, but not too bad.

Hungary 2014
Amazingly well organised & easy to attend, great city and good race. Very easy to get to track from city on free coaches from north of city. Lots of action on track and we were sat at the very start of the pit straight & it was brilliant. Lewis on fire as he entered the pits.

Italy 2017
Awful venue. No facilities for fans. Only one brand of food truck, so if you don't like their 3 kinds of sarnies, tough. Worst security & crowd & queuing organisation I've ever seen. Horrific rain on the Saturday and nowhere to shelter. Just, ugh, never again.

Australia 2018
Absolutely amazing venue. This is where all Grand Prix race organisers should be forced to go to see how it can be done. Great transport to the track. There was loads and loads to see & do away from the race track. Great food trucks. Loads of cars on show. Mind-blowingly good event. Just a shame it's on the opposite side of the planet. Race itself was a bit dull but Ferrari won which pleased all the locals.

klevispin wrote: Hungary 2014
Amazingly well organised & easy to attend, great city and good race. Very easy to get to track from city on free coaches from north of city. Lots of action on track and we were sat at the very start of the pit straight & it was brilliant. Lewis on fire as he entered the pits.

Got married to a Hungarian this year! Hopefully she'll get me something cool like that for my birthday!

Montreal - 1998
Indy - 2000

gb 03-09
spa 15

wont go again due to engines. (though spa is amazing to walk round)

Silverstone - 96,97,98,03,04,06,07,12,16
Spa - 11
Hungary - 14
Barcelona - 04 (testing) 09
Hockenheim - 12
Monza - 13

2019.. back to Hungary, it’s the best venue for city, price, track and weather. By far.

Sadly just 2. Silverstone '92 and Australia '04.

Siao7 wrote: Got married to a Hungarian this year! Hopefully she'll get me something cool like that for my birthday!

My wife is Hungarian. They're a funny old bunch.

10+
All of the F1 races at Indy, first 3 at COTA.

DOLOMITE wrote:

Siao7 wrote: Got married to a Hungarian this year! Hopefully she'll get me something cool like that for my birthday!

My wife is Hungarian. They're a funny old bunch.

I want to get to the Hungaroring at some point, I have a free place to stay there so there's no excuse! Such a beautiful city too. Did you learn the language?

10+

Took a year off work in 2011 and followed the F1 circus around the world, last grandprix I saw was Vettel winning his 4th title at India.

Not been to a grandprix since the lawnmower engines, but might plan for next year.

Only 1.
British GP 2012.
Got absolutely soaked on the saturday.
Got sunburnt on the sunday.

The earpiercing noise of the engines will stay with me forever.

Valencia 2012 - The year Alonso won and stopped his Ferrari right in front of us

 

An Instagram Post from the 21st century

Barcelona 2018 - Watched Lewis drive to victory

 

An Instagram Post from the 21st century

For me, 2, the Detroit GP (forgot the year) and the single year at Dallas.

I live only 230 miles from Circuit of the Americas in Austin, a much better track than the two I actually attended. And a better track than most on the current schedule. However, each time I contemplate going, I remember how much better the show is while watching on TV.

Donington '93 was my first. I was 16 and loved every minute! Had been watching F1 for as long as I remember, and only went as it was 45 mins from home so Dad took me as a surprise.
Silverstone '11, '12, '14, '15, '16, '17, '18
European (Valencia) '09
Singapore '10

Just 1.

Spain 2013.

Didn't really expect it to be Alonso's last ever F1 race win!

Two, Silverstone 2014 and Canada 2006. Had a great time in Montreal, would highly recommend. Had one of those small world moments at the hostel we stayed at where another British guy was from the next town along, we'd even drink in the same pub. Silverstone was ok but a massive ballache to get out of by car, would look for alternatives if I went again.

10

2008 Spa
2009 Silverstone
2010 Monza
2011 Nurburgring
2012 Hockenheim
2013 Spa
2014 Austria
2015 Monza
2016 Silverstone
2018 Hockenheim

2019 will be Silverstone again I think

Herb wrote:Just 1.

Spain 2013.

Didn't really expect it to be Alonso's last ever F1 race win!

Neither did anyone else.

3 for me.

Silverstone 2012 - Had a feeling Schumi might call it quits at the end of the season so wanted to see him in the flesh before he did. A washout on Friday and Saturday but nice on Sunday. Cracking duel between Alonso and Webber. A good first F1 experience.

Silverstone 2015 - Won tickets through F1 Racing so took a mate and made a weekend of it. Good win for Hamilton. Better weather too (apart from the mid-race shower).

Monza 2018 - Off the bucket list for sure. Cracking atmosphere even if the weather wasn't brilliant. A Ferrari pole and arguably the race of the season. A nice walk around the circuit to end the weekend. Plus Ericsson rolling it right in front of us was a surreal experience!

I've also attended testing at Silverstone in 2013. It was such a nice relaxed day compared to the hectic atmosphere of a F1 weekend.

I have 'attended' several, but relly cannot put a reliable figure on it as we used to race a minor series and just happened to be at the same venue sometimes in the 'early years'. What I can say is that in latter (to me, before most were born ) each race I have been to I have taken far more from watching the recording later.

The highlight of my british grand prix's was Deric Warwick hitting the advertising board about 10 feet away and 6 feet below me. Everything else was missed until I saw the recordings. The 'radio silverstone' did not really keep up with what was happening, just sort of gave 'continuous updates'

I have not been for may be 8 years? Abu Dhabi next

I think my vote of 8 is about correct, but some weekends in the late 1980s early 1990s I was on duty, and "only" attended Friday practice and qualifying. I stopped going to Francorchamps when they tried to get me to pay for a whole weekend though only able to be there on Friday. I think that was around 1985. Then, a few years ago a young friend said she wanted to go and we went 4 years in a row. The first year we made the error of expecting to see pitlane action from the grandstand across from the second half of the pitlane. I should have known better, with all the mission control centres on the wall... The top edge of the rear wings was just about all we saw, except for seeing the cars go by in a straight line. And that after paying for far too expensive seats. The year after, we elected to go on 'general admission' tickets on Sunday only, and watched the race looking down on the two Pouhon corners. Not so comfortable, but far less expensive, and we could at least see the cars twitch and slide a bit. Last year and this we had great seats in the grandstands at the Raidillon. Best views of the action, though still too expensive really, for what you get to see.
In 1993 I visited the Monaco GP on Saturday and Sunday, and saw both Hill and Senna have incidents at the chicane on Saturday from the chicane grandstand. On Sunday, watching from the general admission area on the rock leading to the palace, I saw Senna win his last Monaco GP. My best memories of the weekend include walking the entire length of the track and crouching down to see just how little the drivers could see approaching Tabac, and walking back to the tunnel on Saturday to find the bump in the track that made Senna spin. And find it we did.
On Sunday after the race, walking back to my rented studio, waiting to cross the road, Prince Rainier and Princess Caroline and her two children came past, with papa driving!

My very first GP was at Zolder in 1984, with my elder brother being Professor Watkins's driver, just as he had been in 1982. One of my favorite drivers won. Alboreto really should have been a world champion at least once. The Sunday was fine, though it was very hard to see much of the action. This was long before useful large TV screens. My best memory of 1984 really was visiting the tyre test that spring; I looked Senna straight in the eye, nodded hello to him in the otherwise empty garage and he nodded back. He was strapped into the older type Toleman ready to go out a bit later, while at the back I could see the brand new one, with which he would score a podium at Monaco a few weeks later. Though I never became a fan, that moment is still clear in my mind.

I wish visiting F1 races wasn't so expensive.

Eight I think, all at Silverstone.

1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
2005

1987 was the best by miles, probably because it was my first one and Mansell won it in such a great way.

2005 was the worst. Incredibly boring and already bordering on the ridiculously expensive by then, so I haven't bothered since as I just cannot justify the expense any more. I can afford it, it's just I'm not prepared to pay it any more.

SteveW wrote:Eight I think, all at Silverstone.

1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
2005

1987 was the best by miles, probably because it was my first one and Mansell won it in such a great way.

2005 was the worst. Incredibly boring and already bordering on the ridiculously expensive by then, so I haven't bothered since as I just cannot justify the expense any more. I can afford it, it's just I'm not prepared to pay it any more.

You overlap me started in 1984, stopped in 1990, the biggest bug bear for me was the traffic.

50+
from 1974 Brands Hatch (jody Scheckter) every British GP then moved to Canada in 1987 and went to Montreal every year (except the year we had no race) Also travelled a bit so Monza, Spa, Zandvoort Zolder Barcelona.
Have seen first GP wins for James Hunt, Ricciardo, Hamilton, Alesi, Kubica and Max. so I think I may be some sort of lucky influence.
Going to Australia in the new year - Money on Leclerc???