How long has Ravi Shastri been a fan of F1? The Indian cricketing legend reveals his 'decades-old' love affair with F1 (Exclusive)

Ravi Shastri revealed that he has been a Formula 1 fan for almost four decades, as he visited the iconic Spa Francorchamps circuit for the 2023 Belgian GP.

Speaking to Sportskeeda in an exclusive interview, the former cricket player revealed that there is an F1 fan club amongst cricketing circles in India. Asked about his affinity towards F1, Ravi Shastri said:

“A lot of people will be bowled over with what I say. It’s over four decades. It started in the eighties, early eighties, when I was playing professional cricket in England. Very few Sundays you would get off in league cricket or county cricket. But on a Sunday off, you’d be in the pub, ready for a Sunday roast, 2’o clock F1 starts, Martin Brundle takes off and so do the big five. Prost, Piquet, Mansell, Lauda, and my favourite Ayrton Senna. Well it was a breeze through the eighties with those guys, then came Schumacher, then came Hamilton, and now the Max and the gang.”

On being asked if the growing popularity of the sport has made F1 a common discussion amongst cricketing circles or corridors of the cricket clubs in India, Shastri said:

“It’s discussed everywhere around clubs because there is a certain gang that just follows Formula 1. Their Sunday revolves around Formula 1, you know where they meet as a team, where they meet at a different club it could be anyone of the clubs you mentioned. But they’ll gang together, watch it, pass their comments, become experts for that day and either go back heartbroken or go back smiling.”

Reflecting on his days playing County Cricket in England, Shastri revealed his interest in F1 started when Nelson Piquet, Nigel Mansell, Alan Prost, and Ayrton Senna were driving.

Hailing Senna as his all-time favorite, the former Indian cricket team coach reckoned following F1 was a part of his weekend routine during the cricket season in the UK. With the growing popularity of the sport, he reckons F1 is a subject discussed amongst cricketers, both current and older generations. He further stated that the current set of cricketers do follow the sport thoroughly and F1 is a common subject of discussion amongst them.

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Ravi Shastri outlines the physical side of F1 that fascinates him the most

Pointing out the physical element of a rigorous sport like Formula 1, Ravi Shastri suggested that fitness drives the hunger and passion for the sport. The constant cut-throat competition to meet physical goals in the modern era of the sport draws him towards F1. He stated that while the fitness levels in modern cricket are intense, they are different from F1.

Asked about how the physical side of the sport fascinated him, Shastri said:

“With fitness comes the hunger, the passion. If your passionate about it, you want to go about it the right way. No one gives you in an inch in modern sport which is as professional as it is, and none bigger than Formula 1. So whilst your there make the most of it.”

On how current Indian cricket team players would rank against F1 drivers in terms of fitness, the former cricket team coach said:

“It’s specific training to each sport. Cricket is more cardio, whereas you know when you’re doing Formula 1, you’ll burn a lot of fat of tension. But it demands a different sort of training, specially clarity of thought, to be able to think in a split second. To be able to make that decision every quickly you can’t have a clouded imagination. So you have a clouded imagination, you are going to make a mistake and fall behind. So it’s a different mindset and there’s a different sort of training to it, which of course the principals know people who handle the Formula 1 drivers know. They know themselves.”

Ravi Shastri opined that the training in Formula 1 was more rigorous and dictated towards the mental side of taking decisions with precision. He felt that both F1 and cricket had different training modules which drive the athletes' performance, making it difficult to compare the two.

The former cricket legend made the most of his Belgium GP weekend experience, as he rooted for his favorites Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc.