[swissknife]

The Chinese Grand Prix would be the 1000th Formula 1 race. The break up of the countries that have hosted the races are


Here are some details of the race

[GTO]

The world's largest car market is perhaps the most fitting place to host the 1000th F1 race .

Other than the timing (I hate morning races), I LOVE the Chinese GP. It's a proper, modern & fast race track. Can Ferrari stop Mercedes from a hat-trick? I certainly hope so! They did, after all, show some serious pace @ Bahrain and I would say that Ferrari's engine easily matches (or beats??) Mercedes in horsepower now.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by GTO

Can Ferrari stop Mercedes from a hat-trick?

Leclerc is racing with the same engine from Bahrain, while saves him from penalties over the season, means he starts the weekend at a relative disadvantage compared to Vettel or the Silver Arrows.

We'll see where he stands in the practice sessions, relative to the other 3.

[SilentEngine]

1000 races! How about we post what was the first race/season each of us watched?

I don't exactly remember which was the first race i watched, but I will go with 2001. I remember watching Hakkinen's last lap retirement from the lead.

I feel old when i consider that I may have watched close to 33% of all F1 races , and I only started seriously following in 2003, and missed all those Schumacher/Hakkinen duels. There must be quite a few folks here who started in 90's.

[motorworks]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Leclerc is racing with the same engine from Bahrain, while saves him from penalties over the season, means he starts the weekend at a relative disadvantage compared to Vettel or the Silver Arrows.



We'll see where he stands in the practice sessions, relative to the other 3.

I guess Ferrari are taking a chance by using the same engine in free practice sessions. They will assess the engine performance and then take a call if they need to change it for qualifying and the race.

If they have really figured out the issue then its good for the team, to sort out gremlins at the start of the year. But the question is how much lost ground they can recover if they keep encountering technical problems like in Australia and in Bahrain?

The start to this year is worse than last year by a big margin. Last year, Vettel had won both the opening races and yet ended up with a deficit in the mid season.
Ferrari need to be flawless to take a championship away from Mercedes and not just 0.5 seconds faster. It does not look like this year is one of those.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by motorworks

The start to this year is worse than last year by a big margin.Ferrari need to be flawless to take a championship away from Mercedes and not just 0.5 seconds faster.

Precisely my point. Ferrari can't goof up of the race results before summer. The recent years, they've always lost their way around summer and then it is one way traffic towards the end of season.

I hope you are right about the engine swap for qualifying. The kid was genuinely faster than both Hamilton and Vettel in Bahrain, and Hamilton kept reiterating this on air post-race.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by SilentEngine

1000 races! How about we post what was the first race/season each of us watched?

I don't exactly remember which was the first race i watched, but I will go with 2001. I remember watching Hakkinen's last lap retirement from the lead.

I feel old when i consider that I may have watched close to 33% of all F1 races , and I only started seriously following in 2003, and missed all those Schumacher/Hakkinen duels. There must be quite a few folks here who started in 90's.

I started following F1 on and off for few years around the time Senna crashed. I started following the seasons religiously from around 1998. I remember sitting 3 hours in front of the TV on a Sunday evening to the annoyance of my parents, for many years.

[ferrarirules]

1000th Race!!! I have been following diligently F1 since 2001. Out and out Ferrari and Micheal Schumacher fan.

Getting back to this season -

Mercedes - They have had a brilliant start to the season with two 1-2 finishes. But they should consider themselves lucky for the last race due to Leclerc's failure. They very well know that they are losing a huge deal to Ferrari on the straights and they need to find an answer to that.

Ferrari - A very bad start to the season. They would be wanting to turn that around as they know they have a competitive car. Vettel would want to forget Bahrain GP asap. Those spins are not doing any good to his confidence. Ferrari have found a brilliant second driver in Leclerc that kid is fast and he showed that last year with Sauber and he is continuing the same form in Ferrari. Ferrari are due for a big result. All the ingredients of success are there. It is just about getting things in place.

Redbull - They have been nowhere near the pace of the top two teams in Bahrain and it was not due to engine pace. It was due to their aero package not working as they want it to work. They have a big task at their hand to turn it around this weekend.

Best of the Rest

Mclaren - They have found some pace and Norris is doing a brilliant job at make the best of it.

Alfa Romeo - Kimi is making the best of the package that he has got. Shows how good a driver he is.

Renault - Renault needs a big result. Retirements in last two races is not helping the cause.


Finally Tyre Choice for this weekend as follows

[mayankk]

What a milestone, a 1000 races. I began watching f1 proper from 98, when the picture of the MP4-13 appeared in Indian Auto, with a caption underneath saying "is this where the next world champion will be sitting?"

Hakkinen is still my all time favorite in F1, seconded only by Hamilton. He's won the race five times already, so I am expecting a roaring performance this time around, instead of a circumstantial one."

[deetjohn]

A 1000! That is one big number and it is rather difficult to comprehend that! Even now, I can recall where I was when Senna passed away. Maybe, that makes me quite old now!

As a fan of the sport, I am certainly glad we have come a long way in the past many decades.
1) Gone are days when I used to be extremely frustrated with the one channel which used to telecast races to have prioritized that idiotic never-ending game of Cricket over a live F1 race.
2) Gone are the days when I used to stand in the main atrium of Forum Mall, Bangalore for the entire race to catch that live feed.
3) Gone are the days when I used to miss continuous telecast for stupid advertisements.

I now stream the races at home on my FireTV using HotStar with no breaks! And I hope to have control over the camera feed or pick a car in particular for the entire race in the near future!

Hoping for a cracker of a race this weekend!

[RM Motorsports]

The History Of Formula 1 | Race 1000

I've been watching F1 since 1997. Been 22 years since but never really bored because more than racing, I am interested in technology involved. Racing gets somewhat boring when one single team dominates for years.

I have been to Sepang, Nürburgring, Abu Dhabi and Buddh Circuit for F1 races, the sound of growling V10's & V8's was in different league compared to today's V6 hybrids.

But the show must go on !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbPOCRmpAzY

[reignofchaos]

Two long straights mean we should see plenty of overtaking this weekend. Hopefully won't be a dull race.

[swissknife]

Originally Posted by SilentEngine

1000 races! How about we post what was the first race/season each of us watched?

I remember the first race that I watched on TV (recorded and played on VHS tape). This was in 1985, the year that "Professor" Alain Prost won his first World Championship in a McLaren. The Prost - Senna rivalry has been unmatched. There was never the first and second driver concept between them. But for a great year for Williams, with Nelson Piquet, it was McLaren all the way till the early 90's. Williams and then Renault had their successes through the 90s with the likes of Prost, Senna, Mansell, Schumacher, Hill, Villeneuve and Hakkinen. The advent of satellite television and sports channels during the mid 90's the viewing was possible live and at times delayed as well. We did not have to wait for the races to be recorded on VHS and sent across to India.

On a side note, I had the opportunity to meet with Sir. Jackie Stewart (triple WC) when he had visited Chennai to lay the foundation stone for the Irungattukottai race track. It was a wonderful experience. I have also seen two other F1 drivers grow up through the ranks; Naren Karthikeyan and Karun Chandok.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by deetjohn

Even now, I can recall where I was when Senna passed away.

Originally Posted by RM Motorsports

I've been watching F1 since 1997.

Originally Posted by swissknife

I remember the first race that I watched on TV (recorded and played on VHS tape). This was in 1985, the year that "Professor" Alain Prost won his first World Championship in a McLaren.

Hats off to you guys that you're still watching!

I started watching F1 in college too, and was a passionate fan for at least a decade. Used to stay up late, used to watch each lap, used to run around everywhere where they were screening the race, etc. etc. In fact, at an early copy writing job, I used to write the content for the 'Team F1' e-mailers that a popular beer brand used to send out to thousands of it's customers who had signed up for that.

Interest waned, either the races became boring or I became older, I dunno. I haven't watched a single race for the past 4-5 seasons! I still follow F1 over the news though. Perhaps the 1000th is a good time to re-kindle the spark.

[SilentEngine]

Originally Posted by deetjohn

1) Gone are days when I used to be extremely frustrated with the one channel which used to telecast races to have prioritized that idiotic never-ending game of Cricket over a live F1 race.

Definitely happy that we don't have to depend on cable operator either. I remember those days when I had to call local cable operator many Sunday evenings asking him to switch the "sports" channel to show live F1 instead of something else.

I don't remember exactly what made me follow F1 passionately. I had a friend in college who was also into F1, so that kind of helped. I was staying in a hostel with no access to TV or internet, and we used to watch races together at his home. On other days, I have even spent evenings sitting in internet cafe following text commentary on espnstar.com and timing screen with the Java applet that they had back then. That Java applet is one thing that I miss now, for its remarkable simplicity.

Originally Posted by swissknife

I remember the first race that I watched on TV (recorded and played on VHS tape). This was in 1985, the year that "Professor" Alain Prost won his first World Championship in a McLaren.

That's quite an interesting tidbit of watching races on VHS tapes!