Oliver WhiteWith one week to go before the title showdown commences in Brazil, I was wondering where Formula One fans will be watching the grand prix from. Given that the race is on at about 5pm UK time, many Brits may be out and about on a Sunday afternoon and may not be in their usual place for spot of motor sport action. Maybe your local pub will be showing the event live, or maybe you’ll be at home watching in front of the television? Or will you be in South America watching the race live from an Interlagos grandstand?
With the sport reaching out to so many people around the world, which country to you support from, and is the coverage any good where you are? Also of curiosity to me this drizzly afternoon in Britain is what people eat during a race. What is your snack of choice while the cars are thundering around a circuit?
For me, I’ll be at home with the television on and the laptop fired up. With the live-blog as well as this place to look after, I cannot really be anywhere else. As for food, the European races are normally passed by with pancakes and maple syrup. This is partly because they’re yummy and partly because they can be put together in an advert break (I don’t make them from scratch). However, with the Brazilian Grand Prix starting in the evening, I have decided something more substantial is needed. So I’ll be purchasing some chocolate fudge brownies!
So what about you guys and gals? Where are you watching from and what do you eat to sustain yourself through 90 minutes of Formula One action…?
It’s my birthday on the 4th, so I’m hoping to be surprised by someone handing me tickets to go see the race in Brazil 😉
Failing that I’ll also be at home in front of the TV with the laptop…
As for food – as it’s the last race, a pre-race fry-up may be in order. The full Scottish affair as a mark of respect for DC’s last race 🙂
Happy Birthday for the 4th, Craig. I presume you’re 21 again? 😛
A meal fit for only the most heartiest of F1 fans!
I’ll be at home as usual 🙂 Most likely be sat in the lounge with my laptop on for live commenting, live timings, and a video feed for the ad breaks. As for sustenance I’ll be drinking the usual Diet Coke and either snacking on some crisps and dips, or some homemade mini spinach and feta muffins 🙂
Mmm, those muffins sound yum.
It’s good to know us F1 fans eat so healthily! 😀
Edit: I forgot to add to the post that I nearly always drink Apple Juice during the race. But as it’s the last race of the year, I’ll probably to have a beer (or two) once the final results and report post go up on the site.
I’ll be at home in front of the TV. I may or may not get Sunday roast dinner, but other than that there will be no difference between this and a normal race. I’ll still have copious notes on my table, there’ll still be a book to read. The drink will still be orange-and-possibly-lemon squash. There will be (as usual) no other snacks. And Mum will still be around, possibly letting the V10s lull her to sleep. Dad might even make it for the last part of the race.
Oh, and as I’ve entered NaNoWriMo, I’ll probably have my PDA in easy reach so I can type extra words into the novel during ad breaks…
Ollie, we have to eat healthily to keep up with the speed at which F1 changes 😉
I need to uphold the “unhealthy Scot who will fry anything” stereotype 😉
Something like this is what could be on the cards.
My Sky+ will catch the race for me when I’ll watch either ‘nearly’ live or failing that, later that night – but before I watch or read the news…
I live in the San Francisco area, so most of the races are held in the middle of the night (California time). The Brazil GP is one of the few that I can actually watch at a decent hour, which means I can watch it live! 9am, woohoo! Probably with a bagel. 🙂
I’ll be watching it the only F1 loving chum I know in the real world. I’ll remain as pessimistic as I was last year and keep annoying him by repeatedly saying that Hamilton will blow his chances of winning the WDC 😉
I’ll probably be in one of two places – in front of the TV at my house, or at the pub.
For pubs, I like a place that caters to the F1 crowd. Sports Cafe on Haymarket in London is good, but crowded. I like the Famous Three Kings in west London, but it is very far from my place in the Isle of Dogs, so I really need to find something closer. Anyone know a good pub for F1 in Greenwich or new Canary Wharf?
Back when I lived in North America, I used to get up every Sunday and watch the F1 live on TSN. European races usually started at 7:00 and were over by 9:00 in the morning. I would simultaneously be doing laundry. Race coverage on TSN was decent. They pick up the British ITV feed for the commentary, and then do their own voice over pre and post race.
I actually used to like it when I got both TSN and Speed network, because Speed network would show the USA feed, which seemed to take different commercial breaks than the ITV feed, so I could flip between the two stations and not miss a minute of the race. Speed got taken off my cable package though, and I really wasn’t willing to pay extra just for the F1 coverage during commercial breaks on TSN.
Greg
After overcoming initial technical difficulties and frustratingly trivial hurdles, i’ll either be perched on my bed at university accommodation – smug in my fresh surroundings – or joining an academic associate for the season’s conclusion in his apartment two floors below mine, gazing at less satisfactory screen than my own in the name of social interaction.
Well the race starts at 3am local time for me, so I’ll be tucked up in bed, and relying on TiVo to record it for me. I’ll then get up around 5am to watch it before I go to work, and will need several cups of tea at that hour of the morning to get me through!
I could watch it when I get home from work I suppose, but when I do that some bugger always tells me the result so I’d rather get up early and watch it.
Great comments from all – I’m loving all the different places you guys and gals watch F1 from and how you all feel about them.
lol. That’s dedication though. 5am ain’t no joke!
Seeing as how my boss won’t be at work next Monday due to the immense stupidity that is the day off for the Melbourne Cup, I may indeed watch it from the comfort of the boudoir.
Or I’ll just sleep through it like I did last year. I was in Hong Kong, I think…
If a suitcase of cash lands on my doorstep, I might fly to England to watch it in a pub…
Well, I hope none of you take my location on race day as being disinterested in F1. It turns out that this Sunday I will be at Giants Stadium (just outside New York City) to see my beloved New York Giants battle it out with their hated rivals- the Dallas Cowboys- in one of the most heated and passionate rivalries in the NFL. I must note that this matchup takes place each year, and after my family and I attended last season’s game with friends, our group agreed to go again this season- even before I became interested in F1. I would love to see the race live, but there is no way I can pass up seeing a Giants game in person 🙂
In terms of the race, I am debating if I should record it and watch it when I get home, or follow the updates live on my cell phone. I’m sure I will tape it, but curiosity will get the best of me and I won’t be able to resiste the look at the cell phone as the race progresses.
With that said, this is a great topic for a post! Since many GPs start in the early morning, I am normally watching in bed before I have even had breakfast! The Canadian GP was shown live at 1PM local time, and FOX also broadcast the following 3 races on tape-delay at 1PM. For those I was having a simple sandwich, pretzels and Pepsi, with a few cans of Molson (my favorite brew) after lunch. Finally, for the races in Asia that are normally late at night over here, I normally have my pre-bed snack of some baked goods such as cake or cookies, with milk.
In terms of TV, I have come to very much enjoy SPEED since I began watching at the start of this season. I think the commentary team of Bob Varsha, David Hobbes and Steve Matchett also do very well and work well as a team, and I also very much enjoy seeing Peter Windsor on his pre-race walk of the grid. On two occasions he has recently grilled Bernie on the prospects for a USGP in the future, and it is great to see that kind of persistance from someone so close to the F1 powerbase!
Well, it’s gonna be 1030 pm here in India.. The race is preceded by Raceday, Star Sports’ pre-race show that lasts an hour. So, dinner followed by all the action. Hope I don’t throw in all the excitement!! Especially if Massa wins the C’ship!! hehe hehe..
Unfortunately, despite being on vacation/holiday, and much closer to the correct timezone for this race than usual, I’m going to be missing the race thanks to my other passion – themeparks! 🙁
Ollie has though kindly offered to send me an SMS message after the event to let me know who won, and how the championship ends up before the stewards change it…
Hope you enjoy yourselves, Gman and Tom M 🙂
Here in Norway we have enjoyed watching Formula One on a free-to-air channel for many years. But now this is over, because the TV-company of Bernie’s choice has decided to move live F1 broadcasting to a satelite channel called Viasat Sport, starting this weekend!
Viasat Sport is a pay-channel, and not many Norwegians will be able to watch the last race this season or for the next three years.
Luckily I have a friend who subscribes to Viasat Sport, and I have arranged to visit him on Sunday afternoon to watch the race with him.
PS. I have heard that Viasat also have bought the rights for Sweden and Denmark for the next three years, so the Formula One fans in all the three countries will be hit by this change. Bernie, what have you done?
Drunk as a Skunk down the Pub drinking Scotch `toasting` the health of Coulthard while trying to explain to people who have never watched F1 in there lives why the Red car is suddenly the winner.
I will be in my living room with my laptop. I think probably dinner will have to be time delayed until after the race to coincide with Top Gear. So perhaps a light snack of chips and dips. With the occasional beer.
oskaalb, that sounds awful. Pay-per-view has been demonstrated not to work very well for F1 because viewers always go down dramatically when it is instigated (assuming there’s no free-to-air option) and they usually go up dramatically when a free-to-air option becomes available. So that sounds like a very good way of losing fans when F1 needs them the most.
Since the race will be at a decent hour here in the US I’ll be drinking a decent Bordeaux, munching on a variety of snacks, and making-out on the couch during the commercials.
Nothing much to say, other than 🙂
Here in California, race starts at 10 am (I think). Most of the US switches off of Daylight Savings Time at 2 AM on the GP morning, so I still haven’t worked out exactly when the race starts. Regardless, since it is Halloween weekend, there will be hangovers all around. Orange juice, whatever else is in the fridge, laptop for live blogs/timing/ITV, and Speed on the TV.
Also, the Chargers have a bye, so no football to get in the way.
I am Brazilian I love TO BRAZIL AND WHAT I WANT TO VERY Felipe Massa IN PRESTIGE WITH THE WORLD TITLE IN BRAZIL, A PARTY BE VERY LARGE AND WORLD THAT IS THE BRAZILIAN see a nation of many forces that are rooting AND BY ITS countryman
Being a frenchman I will be far from eating at 6-7pm so I’ll enjoy the race fully 😉 Diner for me, and as usual will be around 20:00-20:30 not before…
Ollie, I am from Bordeaux myself, so I hope you will enjoy your wine 😉
“A la tienne!” (litteraly “to yours” meaning “wish you a good health”) french equivalent of the british “cheers!”