800 F1 races: how many have you seen?

1st October 2008, 7:00 by Keith Collantine 80 Comments »

1989 British Grand Prix: my first glimpse of F1. What was yours?

Singapore was F1′s 800th world championship race: so how many of the 800 have you seen?

I started watching F1 halfway through 1989 when I saw a broadcast of the British Grand Prix. Alain Prost won after Ayrton Senna spun off with a gearbox problem, and Nigel Mansell was a charging second after suffering a puncture in his Ferrari.

From my first glimpse of F1 action to this weekend’s first ever night race there have been 324 Grands Prix.

I know I haven’t seen all of them on television, because when I started watching F1 I was quite young and my parents wouldn’t let me get up at 2am to watch the Japanese and Australian races. Without those I reckon I’ve watched over 310 F1 races.

In comparison I’ve seen only a tiny number in person: just eight. Grand Prix tickets are expensive! Here’s some of my recollections about races I’ve been to:

How many F1 races have you seen? How many have you been to? To help you work it out here’s how many world championship rounds (including the Indianapolis 500) there have been since 1950:

1950: 7, 1951: 8, 1952: 8, 1953: 9, 1954: 9, 1955: 7, 1956: 8, 1957: 8, 1958: 11, 1959: 9, 1960: 10, 1961: 8, 1962: 9, 1963: 10, 1964: 10, 1965: 10, 1966: 9, 1967: 11, 1968: 12, 1969: 11, 1970: 13, 1971: 11, 1972: 12, 1973: 15, 1974: 15, 1975: 14, 1976: 16, 1977: 17, 1978: 16, 1979: 15, 1980: 14, 1981: 15, 1982: 16, 1983: 15, 1984: 16, 1985: 16, 1986: 16, 1987: 16, 1988: 16, 1989: 16, 1990: 16, 1991: 16, 1992: 16, 1993: 16, 1994: 16, 1995: 17, 1996: 16, 1997: 17, 1998: 16, 1999: 16, 2000: 17, 2001: 17, 2002: 17, 2003: 16, 2004: 18, 2005: 19, 2006: 18, 2007: 17, 2008: 15 (to date).

Comments have been split across multiple pages. If you are having trouble viewing the pages click here to see all comments.

Share this article with your friends:

80 comments on 800 F1 races: how many have you seen?

Daks said on 1st October 2008, 7:04

Austria 2000! Hakkinen wins!

Giovanni said on 1st October 2008, 7:38

214 Races: Started with Monte Carlo ’96! I’ve seen 2 GP’s in person: San Marino 1999 & 2000…and a couple of tests in Vallelunga.

Steven said on 1st October 2008, 8:00

The first Formula 1 race I saw was the 1998 Australian GP. McLaren completely dominated, lapping every other driver to a 1-2 finish. It was an absolutely sublime display of excellence, and is why I got hooked on F1. I also became a McLaren fan from that day forwards. Since then, I might have seen about 40 to 50 races on television, missing many due to lack of cable TV or too early in the morning. Never seen an F1 race in person, so I hope they’ll return to California sometime.

Shahriar said on 1st October 2008, 8:13

Started in 2000…
but missed 1/2 season in the middle fully…
so i guess its around 100

Jonesracing82 said on 1st October 2008, 8:15

313 to date!
1st was imola ’89

Rob Bloor said on 1st October 2008, 8:27

1993ish, used to watch it on a Sunday with my Dad!
Missed around 3 or 4 seasons around the late 90′s early 00′s. So no idea on the amount :-/

Michael said on 1st October 2008, 8:38

1990… and then two years later I remember a woman lifting her top for the cameras. I was 12 then. The full pictures fade, but I remember the woman, Ayrton, Alain, Nigel, Gehard…

Then Ayrton died and I weeped. F1 has been a big part of my life.

It somehow seemed better then. Nostalgia perhaps, or maybe ‘cos the agression was so great. Lewis would have done well back then – the new rules and difficult passing means that most of his passes are dangerous. I think even Fernando would have had a great career in the 90′s.

Remember the guy with the checkered flag screaming halfway down the track as the winner passed? Yeesh! Will we get a car as good as Mansell’s 92 Williams Renault… V8 was it?

Frank Li said on 1st October 2008, 8:42

Suzuka, 1994

I was an instant Damon Hill fan

mark said on 1st October 2008, 8:46

about 50% of all races….
Check out my Ferrari Spoof movie on Massa and his pitstop
http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=VuW0Ba5eSgc

Pedro Andrade said on 1st October 2008, 8:53

Did some research, And I’m positive of having watched between 120-125 races. This is not counting early 90′s races I may have watched because I’m too young to remember, though I’m sure I’ve watched some. The first race I really remember watching is Spain 1998, and from then on I’ve watched most of them (except for the period between Austria 2002 and middle of 2004).

Rob ijbema said on 1st October 2008, 8:55

all you little nippers (-;
started watching Austria 1972,Fitti vs Stewart
first GP attended the Dutch GP 1974
i’m to senile to count them all )-:

ajokay said on 1st October 2008, 9:16

My first memory if seeing an F1 race was on TV at my grandparents house, and it must have been in 1992. I remember saying “I want Berger to win” because, well, I was 7, and I guess I thought hamburgers were the best food ever. My nan then said… “noooo, you want Mansell to win!”

That was just a fleeting viewing though, and I didn’t watch F1 again until 1994.

Unfortunately, the first full race I ever remember watching was the ’94 San Marino grand prix. It still saddens me to think that I only got to knowingly see Senna racing for all of 3 laps in my entire life.

Since then, I’ve seen near enough every grand prix, bar one or two from being on holiday (on the rare occasions a TV couldn’t be found) or during moves to and from university.

So that makes F1′s 800th race my 240th, give or take a handful, over the past 14 years. I’ve only ever attended one though, the 2004 British round.

Lustigson said on 1st October 2008, 9:18

@ Rob
I was wondering when the oldies would make themselves heard…

I saw my first glimpse of F1 in late 1990. It must have been about Senna driving into Prost at Suzuka and it was probably on TV news. I distinctly remember the red Ferrari bearing number 1. Following that, I watched the occasional race in 1991, but have followed the sport closely since 1992. I’ve missed only a handful of races since then, I guess. So that would add up to close to 300 GPs.

I’ve been to 4 races in person, 3 of which are legendary (or infamous, depending on how you look at them): the 1995 Belgian GP, which Schumacher won from 16th on the grid, beating Hill in a great battle. Then San Marino 1999, which Schumacher won for Ferrari; the first time the team won ‘at home’ since 1983. Then the 2002 USA race, which Schumacher lost to Barrichello due to his ‘dead heat’ nonsense. And lastly this year’s Spanish race, which saw the last win by Räikkönen to date.

Chalky said on 1st October 2008, 9:29

I’m guessing it’s 350+ as I started watching in 1985, or that’s the earliest memory of watching a GP on TV. Mansell in his Williams.
Haven’t seen them all in the 80′s but I watched more and more to eventually all as the years progressed. It was very rare for me to miss one. “Sod’s Law”, I missed the 1993 European GP!
Been to 2 British GPs in person (2004 and 2008).

Now I struggle to watch them live as I have 2 young children. I normally have to tape them and watch them at night. But I still get to watch them. The challenge of avoiding all sports news broadcasts in todays world gets ever more challenging.

El Gordo said on 1st October 2008, 9:39

I’ve been watching on and off since the early 80s – my earliest F1 memory is Keke Rosberg winning for Williams at Monaco. I became a huge fan watching Mansell, and have never really stopped since.