• Mark Sutton's 2012 photo review

The season in photos - Part one

December 12, 2012

F1 photographer Mark Sutton picks his favourite shots from the first ten races of the season and the Mugello test

Australia: Button celebrates

The light was just incredible when Jenson got out the car. He came over towards me and I was quite low down so there's a bit of sky behind it and you can see his gloves. The problem for people who were higher up was that the black background made it hard to distinguish the gloves, which are making a "W". He was obviously ecstatic and the best thing about it was that I won some money on him so it was even better! I was doing an autograph signing session with him at the last test in Barcelona and the last thing he said to me was "see you in parc ferme" so I took his word for it and put bets on for pole, victory and to win the championship. I was quite happy with that!

Malaysia: Sauber celebrates

I like this top shot of the mechanic's finger, but it's actually a mistake! It just shows you how autofocus works sometimes. When you don't use manual focus and you use autofocus sometimes it can pin in on something that's in the foreground. I think it creates a really nice picture, personally, because it's just the one finger up like he's the man, but it wasn't what I intended! It just shows emotion too, you've got him in the background out of focus as he greets all his mechanics. Here I'd gone for a really weird position, just down the line in parc ferme. I saw all the mechanics and knew he'd come over - I just took that instinct into it and thought he might come over; he's more than likely to. So I just leant out a bit and shot down the line. Great emotions though, as you can see with the sharper picture below where he's celebrating with the team.

China: Marbles

This just shows you how bad the marbles were in China, and tyres played such a crucial role in the race. I was trying to get an angle somewhere around the track that showed all the debris because it was horrendous. When a car went off-line ... well Raikkonen showed how bad it was when he lost all those positions. He lost five places in one lap, and if you go off line you're in real trouble. It was all about finding the spot, and as I was wandering back for the finish shots I could see it there. I shot a couple through the fence at first, and then there was a marshal's post, so I just thought 'well that works really, really well'.

Bahrain - Perfect portraits

As photographers we love the Sakhir paddock. You get some great opportunities to shoot portraits because it is very hot and dry and that coaxes the teams and drivers out of their team buildings. We took several pictures of people outside, talking on benches or just relaxing under palm trees. The light is fantastic when the sun sets around 16:00 and you can walk in the paddock and photograph people without any obstacles such as the motorhomes you get in Europe. The backgrounds are simple and the buildings have sand coloured flat surfaces without advertising. It offers very clean images

Mugello test - An old-school circuit

Here's proof that Mugello is an old-school circuit. In this photo you can see the perimeter wall of the circuit, but unlike other tracks the catch-fencing to protect the spectators is further back with the perimeter road in between. So as a photographer you can shoot from behind the wall but in front of the fence rather than through holes in the fence as we have to do at most modern circuits. In this shot you can see that Sebastian Vettel has cycled over from the pit lane and has an unobstructed view of the car.

Spain - Dealing with fire

Williams had done the celebration picture and they all started mobbing Frank so I thought I'd head up to the media room to wire the pictures. As I was heading back I could hear this explosion and everybody looked up at the smoke so I ran back through it all to see people pulling all the fire extinguishers down the pit lane. It was absolute bloody chaos, but what was amazing about the fire was the camaraderie and all the support that the teams gave. Everyone brought fire extinguishers, they knew it was a fire and they knew it could affect other garages if they just left it, so they all showed their support. It was great. It was a bit like a warzone trying to shoot it all - I felt like a war photographer - I didn't want to get in people's way but my news head kicked in and I felt like I needed to get the shots. I didn't do too badly, it was incredible seeing some senior team members mucking in and quite a few were covered in extinguisher dust by the time they stepped away.

Monaco - Follow the leader

While it wasn't the most entertaining race, the fact that it was the closest ever top-four finish at Monaco meant it was a tight one throughout. You're always looking for shots that will capture the essence of the race, and I think that's what this one does. Having the leading five cars all in a row and in one shot together so late in a race is very rare, but you can also see just how tight the track is. There's no way past, but the barriers are so close you know that one mistake will end the race for somebody, and Webber was under a great deal of pressure too. Look how close the marshals are to the cars too - you don't get that anywhere else. It really is such a unique race.

Canada - Flipping brilliant

Keith Sutton: At the time this was shot most photographers were in the wire room uploading pictures, but it was such a lovely evening that I decided to take a walk over to McLaren's hospitality. All of Lewis's entourage were milling around, including his girlfriend Nicole Scherzinger and manager Simon Fuller, and I was just grabbing shots of that because the light was so nice. Then I saw Lewis head out of the paddock so I thought I'd follow him because it's always nice getting photos of the drivers crossing the pontoon when the light is low. So while he was signing autographs I went ahead and strolled to the end of the pontoon to get a picture of him with my 70-200mm lens. Then as he came towards me he pushed his trainer, Antti Vierula, into the Olympic rowing basin! But what I wasn't expecting was what happened next as Lewis put his back to the water and did this incredible backflip! I just kept my finger down and the autofocus did its work to capture this incredible sequence of him jumping in. My thoughts were, with Hamilton being a McLaren driver, he doesn't get a chance to do what the Red Bull drivers do in the swimming pool when they win in Monaco. So I said that to him as I thanked him for the photos. It was a great end to a great weekend.

Europe - Dead Bull

Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull stopped on the track on the Sunday and they didn't quite manage to get it back to the pits. It got halfway between the first corner and the pits so I was able to get a few shots of it by itself and I was able to go a little bit closer than normal. It's nice to be able to have a bit of freedom to take photos of the car and not have mechanics trying to shove you away and guard it. So to get a close up of the steering wheel and the rear of the car is a little bit unusual.

Britain - Threatening skies

It's almost pitch black behind Alonso in qualifying. It was his final run in qualifying and this shot has not been edited at all. I've darkened the car slightly but have not touched up the clouds or anything. It's actually sunny at this point of the session as the track dries out and Alonso is coming down into Vale on the inside of the track. With the sun being out and the black cloud in the background it creates a really nice picture, a kind of moody, menacing image. It was just good to be in the right place with the incoming weather behind to create this moody shot.

Germany - Fernando and his team

I think Santander missed a trick in this photo. Around the chequered flag they had their advertising but it didn't stretch down to the team. Apart from the flag post, the team is where most people are going to shoot and Santander is missing from the wall. It suits me because I like nice clean backgrounds and the red works well with the car and the team. Alonso has one hand in the air - I would have liked to have two, but I guess I'm just being critical now - so it really does create a great image. Alonso is absolutely on fire at the moment and the team love him and have really warmed to him this season. The car doesn't really look that trick, but they just get their work done each weekend, bring little updates and at the moment it's all working for them. It's amazing how he was able to defend from Jenson Button, even in the DRS zone, so he's clearly comfortable with the car.

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