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We asked our F1 content creators for their favourite photographs

Extraordinary images from an extraordinary year: How our favourite photographs from 2024 were captured

Read time: 8.9 minutes

As our content creators returned from the winter break, they opened their lockers at the McLaren factory and dusted down their camera equipment.

When they switched on their cameras for the first time since mid-December, they were greeted by the last photographs they’d captured in 2024 and began sifting through the thousands of images they'd taken through the year.

Pre-season preparations are now well underway, but not before a review of the last 12 months. As the team worked their way through the piles of SD cards they’d accumulated during the year, we asked them to select their standout shots and tell the stories behind how they were taken.

Qas
Shot on the Canon R5 with a Canon EF 8-15mm lens

“This image was taken directly after the team photo, following Lando’s win in the Dutch Grand Prix in August. What I love the most about this shot is that it captures the pure joy of Lando and his team in a unique way. I actually got this same angle with all the mechanics a few times throughout the week, and it became a good experiment and test for how quickly I could set it up.

“With trial and error, I managed to get this shot with Lando in a matter of seconds. How did I set up? Well, it was pretty simple! Using a fish-eye lens and by simply lying down on the floor and pointing the camera upwards towards the sky, I asked everyone involved in the shot to lean over me and to create a huddle. I then asked everyone to smile, clicked the shutter, and boom! A work of art.

“A mechanic also pointed out to me that this shot resembles a wheel nut of an F1 tyre!”

Qasim Alam
Bruce
Shot on a Mamiya M645 with Kodal Gold 200 with an 80mm lens

“I took this picture during the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix on the top floor of our pit building, which overlooks the track and out onto the marina. This race, for me, was particularly special. In honour of Ayrton Senna, the team were in a new colour palette for the weekend, the results on track were looking promising for our season, and there was a general buzz around the principality that was impossible not to be caught up in.

“I decided to take a vintage medium format camera to Monaco in order to represent the heritage and history that it possesses. It was my first time using a camera like this, and it really made me slow down and consider shots. The waist-level viewfinder on this camera moves entirely differently to what I am used to (when you turn left, the image seems to turn right) and that took some adjusting to. Additionally, you needed to light-meter the shots and the wind/release of the shutter, which requires you to be very deliberate with your photos - you only get one attempt at capturing a moment. That made taking this portrait of Lando and Oscar in the few minutes I had with them very rewarding when I received the scans back.”

Bruce Gray
Alex
Shot on a Canon R5 with a Canon RF 28-70 F2.0 lens

“Talk about a power pose. This shot was captured moments before LN4 took his seat in the cockpit of the MCL38 in Abu Dhabi... and we all know how that turned out! Throughout the whole race weekend, Lando carried a really positive vibe around the paddock. Whether or not he was feeling the pressure certainly wasn't visible.

“I have never felt nerves like the ones in the garage throughout that race. The majority of the time, you could hear a pin drop. But, Lando, with his cool confidence, wasn't phased, and this image, I feel, describes exactly how I think he felt.”

Alex Hutt
Qas
Shot on the Canon R5 with a 15-35mm lens

“This image was taken during Qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix. I love creating a sense of energy and movement within my images, and I feel like this is a great example of how using ‘slow shutter’ can create that feeling. Slow shutter is a photography effect that allows more light into the camera sensor, which gives you ‘motion blur’ and creates a feeling of fast movement. This effect was great for Singapore as it’s a night race. For night races, you want to make the most out of the bright lights.

“How did I get the shot? Oscar was sitting in his car, quite still, not moving around a lot, so I had to shake the camera a few times using a low shutter speed. I also had to lock the focus point on Oscar’s visor, while I moved the camera around. Using flash, the burst of light bounced off Oscar’s shiny helmet, and resulted in this really cool shot.”

Qasim Alam
Bruce
Shot on a Canon R5 with a 35mm lens

“As you can probably tell, this shot was taken after Lando's first win in Miami. To be honest, while I love the colours, this is probably not one of the shots that I am proudest of compositionally, but the emotion that comes through from Lando's face, along with the energy from the cameras and the rest of the team, makes this one special to me – sometimes, these are the more important ones.

“It was a historical day for Lando and all of us who were behind him, and I'm proud to have been there to capture it in both video and stills.”

Bruce Gray
Alex
Shot on a Canon R5 with a Canon EF 15-35 f2.8 lens

“One of the things I love capturing the most in a photo is personality. Those moments of relatable emotion not only tell the story of what is going on but also how it feels to be there. This moment is the conclusion of what might be Formula 1’s best-known bet.

“After Lando won his first F1 race at Miami 2024, Zak was ready and willing to hold up his end of the bargain and put himself under the needle once again. So, on a rainy Montreal evening, Zak and Lando had made a secret, undercover appointment at a local tattoo parlour. A small group of us met them there and watched Zak get himself as comfortable as you can be in a tattoo chair.

“This photo was actually taken before the tattoo had started. Zak was, naturally, slightly nervous about the whole thing. He looked up at me and asked, ‘How do I look?’ As I looked down my viewfinder, I was met with this massive smile, which reflected the less nervous smiles of those of us, particularly Lando, who got to watch on! Throughout the tattoo, I was filming and snapping away as the artist did his work, and Lando laughed along and captured some great moments in the process. This particular image stood out to me, however, as one of F1’s biggest characters let his personality shine through.”

Alex Hutt