• Life Through a Lens

Waxworks, schoolboys and marbles

July 25, 2012

F1 photographer Mark Sutton picks his favourite shots from the German Grand Prix

Shooting in the rain

I took this photo while hiding in the bay where the FIA's safety cars are kept. There's an overhang that kept me dry and I used my 500mm lens to shoot through the rain. The Toro Rosso team were wheeling the car back from scrutineering and they deserted the car in the pit lane when it started chucking it down. Normally the cover you can see hides the whole car, but here they left the wheels and front wing exposed which is nice because you can see a bit more detail. You can see the rain bouncing back off the ground, it was just remarkable how heavy it was. But it makes for quite a nice shot and sums up nicely just how bad the rain storms were on Saturday.

Lotus double DRS

Lotus was running its new double DRS device during practice at Hockenheim and it created quite a lot of fuss in the paddock. Someone tweeted about the upgrade in the morning and I went and found it in the garage, but I don't know who else knew about it at that time. I got pictures of it in the and the car then they went out and did one-lap stints to get the data and for the team to look at the aeropaint. Then I was listening to my FanVision and I could hear all the commotion about the team trying to block TV cameras getting a look at it, but I already had my pictures by then. Obviously the weather didn't help on Friday and on Saturday they converted it back to the normal car. They came third without it, so maybe it will give them that extra boost they need to get on the top of the podium.

Dummy in the paddock

I think it was the German broadcaster RTL that got this Madame Tussauds Sebastian Vettel waxwork into the paddock on Sunday. They wanted to put it on the drivers' parade so they could film the drivers with it, and it would have been a very funny story but it got kicked out of the paddock eventually! I don't think they had approval from FOM to be in the paddock and they didn't want the promotion for Madame Tussauds Berlin. But it was still funny to see him being wheeled around on this cargo truck while the lady with him did his makeup and sorted out his hair.

Kobayashi on the grid

I love this photo because you don't normally see drivers with sat with their legs crossed on the grid. He looks a bit like a school kid waiting for assembly or maybe like someone doing yoga. I couldn't resist taking a photo and I just laid the camera on the floor and angled it up to get him a little bit bigger in the frame. I didn't want to get in his space, but the Sauber press officer said "Isn't that a lovely picture" so I just carried on shooting. Some drivers don't like you getting too close before a race but he was fine.

A million marbles

I couldn't believe how much tyre debris there was after the race. They run through the rubber to pick up more weight because they weigh the car afterwards and the teams want to make sure the cars are within the limits. It's just amazing to see the tyre tracks he's left as he's gone through it and the marbles have stuck to his tyres. I think this corner had more than others because it's cambered away from the apex so the rubber rolls up on the surface of the tyre and gets pulled off to the left. Every car that went through did the same and it was almost like watching a Hoover cleaning up the track.

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 at 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. It will be interesting to see how he performs in Hungary.

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