GP Racing UK December 2021

@BenAndersonF1 It’s difficult to know whether it takes a certain type of driver to thrive at Ferrari. It goes without saying they must be incredibly fast, but to be a true hero to the tifosi takes something more it seems – a certain je ne sais quoi. You must be successful, of course, but you need style with that substance. Charles Leclerc always looks effortlessly cool – part fashion model, part racing driver – and is someone who drives with a flamboyance that can set pulses racing. This is at the heart of it. Ferrari has produced some great champions of Formula 1, but perhaps its most famous, and loved, son was someone who sacrificed it all without winning a world title. Gilles Villeneuve is synonymous with that Ferrari spirit – incredible, fearless driving,…

ANDREW BENSON BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer examines why Charles Leclerc is in pole position to be Ferrari’s next world champion (p30) ALEX KALINAUCKAS Alex Albon’s return to a race seat for 2022, replacing George Russell at Williams, comes under Alex’s gaze this month (p52) OLEG KARPOV Oleg finds out what Haas is doing to try and improve on what has been an awful season for F1’s whipping boys (p68) STUART CODLING Two mighty interviews for Stuart this month: McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo on his return to form (p44) and Merc’s James Allison (p56) Thanks to Tim Bampton, Connor Bean, Harry Bull, Caterina Cappelli, Jacques Heckstall-Smith, Silvia Hoffer-Frangipane, Jack Leslie, Bradley Lord, Adam McDaid, Will Ponissi, Charlotte Sefton, Rosa Herraro Venegas, Richard Wilson…

It’s a privilege to be present on occasions such as this. For Max, obviously, a victory which sets him up well for the championship run in. But for Sergio Pérez this has been a long time coming: a podium finish at his home grand prix after years of frustration here. The crowd, as you can imagine, really rose to the occasion. This was a tricky shot to pull off because you’re hand-holding a long lens and have no control of where the drivers decide they’re going to move – plus there’s tickertape everywhere. In this shot there’s a nice bit of symmetry in their poses and the tickertape is obligingly not blocking their faces! Where Mexico City, Mexico When 3:05pm, Sunday 7 November 2021 Details Canon EOS-R5 100-500mm lens, 1/1250th @F9…

The stadium section in Mexico City’s Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez offers you plenty of photographic bang for your buck: you can go wide and capture the atmosphere of a bustling stadium or go for a slow pan which exploits the graphics the promoters have applied to the stadium surface. Shooting on a slow speed with a bit of zoom enables you to blur the background and foreground elements and convey a sense of speed, helped here by the red F1 logos on the hoardings and the red and green murals on the ground. Obviously it helps if the colours of the car itself jump out as well; in this case Lando Norris’s orange McLaren. Where Mexico City, Mexico When 12:00pm, Friday 5 November 2021 Details Canon EOS-R5 70-200mm lens, 1/20th @F4.5…

No matter how many years you spend in motorsport photography, you never stop thanking your lucky stars whenever you get the opportunity to capture the championship protagonists within the same frame with a backdrop which could only belong to one location. The Foro Sol stadium has its knockers – its presence meant the legendary Peraltada corner couldn’t be remodelled with modern levels of run-off – but you really do feel a fantastic atmosphere here. And not just on race day. I’ve never seen the arena so busy on every day of the weekend – none more so than here, right after the start of the race itself. Where Mexico City, Mexico When 1:09pm, Sunday 7 November 2021 Details Canon EOS-1D X MkII 16-35mm lens, 1/8000th @F5…

One of the things that struck me in parc fermé after the US GP, and why I took this picture, is the expression on Helmut Marko’s face as he takes in the spectacle of his two young chargers congratulating each other. He’s wearing a mask, but you can still tell there’s a broad grin under there. Dr Marko takes a lot of flak, both for the choices he makes and for the somewhat robust way he treats drivers on the Red Bull young driver programme, so it must be gratifying to see them delivering the goods. Max Verstappen was obviously a talent worth supporting but Sergio Pérez has shown great form of late, and a clear line of improvement over the year. Where Austin, USA When 3:42pm, Sunday 24 October 2021 Details Canon EOS-1D…