Top F1 photographers reveal what makes the perfect picture

“You look at where the sun is, where the light is going to be in the next hour – or sometimes even the next few minutes – and try to plan in advance to be at a certain place at a certain time.”

Gooden concurs, and explains how it influenced a shot he took which Cahier picked out as one of the F1 images of the year, capturing Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari lit up by the desert sunset in Bahrain.

“Test sessions are great because you have three days where are you are almost certain to have to have some nice light at the end of the day,” he says.

“But because we just go to the same track every year at Sakhir, this year I decided to just walk around the track and see what new place I could find.

“I was quite lucky when I stopped at this spot just on the straight. I was looking for sparks, but then I realised the sun was actually really low.

“It was bouncing off the bodywork, perfectly illustrating the shape of an F1 car – and it was ‘doing’ some sparks too! So I was really happy to find a new, different shot like this.”

Location is of course crucial in both capturing the right light – there’s no substitute for putting in the legwork – but so is finding the space for framing the optimum on-track action.

“I’ve learned from when I used to be shooting from the grandstands, or behind the fences, you need to try not to have any disturbing elements in the background or foreground,” says Gooden.

“You want to have a clean image – like the one I shot of Verstappen going through Eau Rouge / Radillon.

“Because it’s only the racetrack and the vibrant, colourful run-off paintings, it almost looks like a processed image, like a 3D render – Eau Rouge a good playground for photographers. Leaning over the ‘old’ pitwall, just one metre away from the cars, you can really feel the speed.”

“Some places you love because of the sensation you get, because it’s so spectacular,” concurs Cahier.

“At Eau Rouge, similar to 130R at Suzuka, just the sheer force [of the car] going through the corner is something to behold – you get the same on the exit of Casino at Monte Carlo too.”

Gooden says he gets a similar feeling at another Suzuka corner, but also stresses that timing is just as important for a photographer as location.

“Degners 1 and 2 are not technically speaking the best for pictures, but do show how the car throws itself into the corner – it’s insane.

“For sure we are all chasing big moments: understeer, oversteer, cars overtaking, maybe a little touch between drivers – it’s always a combination of planning, where to go and when to go. At a street circuit you look for sparks in qualifying or the moment a car might hit the wall.

“The best moments come when you plan for something through your experience – but then an unusual event occurs.”

When asked for his own perfect picture, Cahier uses an example that stresses the importance of a little experience combined with right time, right place.

The image also has a strong emotional resonance which still holds to this day, 40 years later.

“The picture I love [that I’ve taken] from ’83 is of Patrick Tambay, winning the San Marino GP,” he says.

The Frenchman was taking a victory for the Scuderia after replacing his late friend Gilles Villeneuve, killed at Zolder the previous year.

“He’s crossing the finish line, both arms in the air, not touching the steering wheel, the chequered flag is on the left – I love the whole composition with the tifosi background.

“But again, you have to put yourself in the right spot. I noticed earlier there was a little space where I could put myself and get that image.

“You wouldn’t have that latitude today.”

Gooden, with guidance from legends of the artform like Cahier and inspiration from DPPI colleagues such as Antonin Vincent, rounds off by summarising what for him makes the perfect F1 image.

“It should be a combination of good light and ‘big action’ – racing incidents or intense moments like two cars out of position, fighting each other,” he says.

“Like 2021: it was so good and so crazy to be able to capture a few moments of history between two racing drivers like Hamilton and Verstappen.

“Some of those pictures will stay in F1 history forever. The feelings it brought when being trackside was something really outstanding.”