GP Racing UK

A man with a mullet and a moustache on the cover of GP Racing? You may be wondering, dear reader, if the editorial team has taken leave of its collective senses. Perhaps it has. But as Polonius said, albeit slightly less equivocally – though this may be madness, yet there is method in it. For several Formula 1 seasons it became a trope in the sporting media to seize upon some aspect of Valtteri Bottas’s appearance – be it a beard or merely some ‘designer stubble’ – as evidence of a winter transformation. This, reported the paddock sages, was a new Bottas, one who was now ready to get his elbows out at Mercedes and compete hard with his team-mate rather than merely being a dutiful number two. Lewis Hamilton himself…

Half an hour into the Bahrain Grand Prix and, while the field was stretched out up front, the battle for 14th between Nyck de Vries and Zhou Guanyu was shaping up nicely. This spot at the end of the track’s main straight is a favourite among photographers because the cars’ titanium skid plates throw up so many sparks. The effect was more pronounced this year because the track surface has been damaged a bit by cars repeatedly bottoming out. There’s a small bump, more like an identation, which sets them bouncing. Word in the paddock is that the circuit’s owner is going to do some resurfacing soon… Where Sakhir, Bahrain When 6:31pm, Sunday 5 March 2023 Details Canon EOS-R3 70-200mm lens, 1/8th @F16…

As Aston Martin’s team photographer I’ve become very aware of how excited everyone is about the arrival of Fernando Alonso at the team. When he got into third place in the closing stages of the Bahrain GP I knew the mechanics would be ecstatic, so I left my spot out on track early to get back to the pits. Expecting them to hang out of whatever openings they could find on the pitwall and cheer him across the finishing line, I found a window of my own a bit further down so I could lean through and capture the moment. This was Fernando’s 99th time on a Formula 1 podium, 32 of which have been for wins. Quite a ratio! Where Sakhir, Bahrain When 7:38pm, Sunday 5 March 2023 Details Canon EOS-R3 24-70mm lens, 1/1000th…

A large Ferris wheel has been one of the Bahrain International Circuit’s visitor attractions since 2019 and, as with pretty much every aspect of this track’s operations, it’s been cleverly thought through to provide a spectacle at night as well as by day. After dark it lights up and the glow makes for a great opportunity in panning shots. For this image I positioned myself in one of the many wadis dotted around the circuit. There was a mound of earth which just allowed me to see the cars on track. By using a very slow shutter speed I blurred both the foreground and the background, and the circuit’s array of illuminations did the rest, with the wheel in the background. Where Sakhir, Bahrain When 6:47pm, Friday 3 March 2023 Details Canon EOS-R3 70-200mm lens,…

I’ve been working with McLaren for many years now and it’s always interesting when new people join to see how they integrate themselves. On the face of it, Oscar Piastri hasn’t had the best start to the season with an early DNF in race one. But actually it’s no bad thing to go about your business out of the spotlight in these circumstances. I was impressed with how he just quietly got on with the job of learning to be a Formula 1 driver. I quite liked the way the early afternoon sunlight works in this shot, as Oscar gets in the car ahead of FP3. Most shots from this race are with artifical light so it’s nice to make use of the sun in these earlier sessions. Where Sakhir, Bahrain When 2.25pm,…

There was something of a kerfuffle immediately after the first race of the season as parc fermé was plunged into darkness. I’m sure it made for great TV with this giant screen in the background, but stills photographers who paint with light were left cursing whoever had come up with the idea. In these circumstances you improvise and, when Max climbed on his car, it made for quite a nice semi-silhouetted image with just a little bit of the light from the screen playing across him so you can tell who it is. Unfortunately, when third-placed Fernando Alonso pulled up, the lights were still off but that’s another story… Where Sakhir, Bahrain When 7:41pm, Sunday 5 March 2023 Details Canon EOS-R3 100-500mm lens, 1/500th @F7.1…