A blue, black and silver arrow
A lot of people say current F1 cars look portly, inelegant and cumbersome. Perhaps they’re just looking from the wrong angle. From above I think the current generation of cars have a certain elegance.
Since I was shooting for McLaren this weekend I had access to the team’s hospitality suite overlooking Sainte Dévote. The main aim was to get a wider view of the race start but you can also go in tighter for a pan shot at a slow shutter speed that gives a real impression of the cars’ pace as they pass beneath. So I went there during FP3 for that. This one of Lewis is the best of the bunch because of the smoke from his right-front tyre.
Where Monte Carlo, Monaco When 12:51pm, Saturday 25 May 2024
Details Canon EOS R3 100-500mm lens, 1/60th @ F9
And the Oscar goes to…
Another podium for a McLaren team that’s very much on the up, and I’m happy that it happened on the weekend the entire crew (and cars) swapped to an Ayrton Senna-inspired colourway.
Apparently this was a year in the making, partly because of the implications of different paint on the weight of the cars.
This was an unusually stressful celebration shot to arrange. You’ll see none of the engineers are present – they were on early flights out. And I was on one at 10pm! But we got it done despite this and the tightness of the pitlane. I thought it would be good to do it differently from the norm and have Oscar stand forward to become a focal point.
Where Monte Carlo, Monaco When 7:08pm, Sunday 26 May 2024
Details Canon EOS R3 14-35mm lens, 1/2000th @ F4
In the Nico time: staying off-grid
In among the hurly-burly of the pre-race grid business, there’s always a brief window of time between the period the drivers spend in a huddle with their engineers and mechanics, confirming their plans for the race, and the immediate pre-race protocols such as the national anthem where the drivers stand together at the front of the grid. During that window many of them disappear – but to where?
Toilet break is one answer, and Nico Hülkenberg’s engineer Gary Gannon alludes to it this month (see p76). But some just want a few moments away from the crowd to gather their thoughts. For Nico, racing here for the first time, that must have been especially important.
Where Imola, Italy When 2:42pm, Sunday 19 May 2024
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