Drama. Keep it on the track.

So I sit here this morning, with 3 weeks to go until the first F1 GP of 2011, watching armoured tanks roll into Manama, the capital of Bahrain, and wondering if there is any chance we can just get on with racing and leave the drama to one side this year?

F1 loves a bit of drama. But when it starts to distract from the racing can this be good for anyone?

The off season has traditionally dragged up some news reports of F1 related dramas, that seem to only air themselves when the adrenaline of the season has settled down. When the teams and media need something better to be doing on their rare weekends off.

We have had the farcical Lotus v Lotus story that has dominated F1 websites for months now and bored the viewing public to tears. Quite how we can end up in this sport with 2 teams both trying to call themselves Lotus when Lotus themselves were never really interested in an F1 return is crazy.
We are now in a position where Lotus had a team in F1 last year called Lotus, they now can`t call themselves Lotus as Lotus wants to be in F1. So Lotus now have to be called Team Lotus, whilst Lotus decide to sponsor a team that has nothing to do with Lotus. This gets slightly more heated as Lotus are now taking Lotus to court to decide which one of them is Lotus and can use the name Lotus. One Lotus will win and will be know as Lotus. Until they decide they don`t want to be in F1 anymore and pullout and then nobody will care about Lotus.

I do feel slightly sorry for Tony Fernandes. He has created a great brand with his green Lotus team. They have done things right, they have gone down the right channels and have created a solid F1 team after a year of difficult races. I would love to see them continue in F1 for many years to come, but I cannot see how they are going to retain the Lotus name. I hope that if this happens it will actually be the launch pad that Tony needs, to call the team `AirAsia F1` and stop throwing money away promoting somebody else`s brand.

The next winter drama that we stumble across is the simply ridiculous row between Ford and Ferrari over the naming rights to this years Ferrari F1 car. Ford have for 23 years boasted that the Ford F150 is the best selling vehicle in the USA. Quite why Ferrari as a car manufacturer overlooked this simple issue when naming their new car the F150, I have no idea.
It is a bit like McLaren calling their new car a McLaren M3, Redbull calling theirs a RBCoke-1, or Virgin, a Virgin-BA747. How can you be so blinkered!

Then we move to the sad news that Robert Kubica looks unlikely to be joining us this year. Robert has injured himself whilst competing in a rally on a weekend off. I'm sure if you have seen the images of his damaged car you will agree that he is lucky to be around at all.
Nick Heidfeld has been promoted to take his seat alongside Vitaly Petrov with Bruno Senna standing in the background as reserve driver. I can see why `Black Lotus` have chosen Nick, he is the best available, but without Kubica pushing the motivation behind the team, their season is pretty much over already. Why not take a gamble? Put Bruno in. Bruno has only ever had 2 days of testing in F1. Ever..... He has never been given a decent car, he could be ace. Give him a chance you have nothing to lose.

Winter is over. Silly season has ended. I just hope the drama this year happens on the track. If it does we are in for a cracking season.

Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas from James Moy Photography.
We will be back in the New Year with more news, blogs, articles and photography from what promises to be a cracking 2011 F1 season.

Best wishes.
James Moy.

Safety car the winner

So we had a situation at the weekend where Korea had done a fantastic job to finish off their brand new circuit, the crowd had turned up en masse to watch their first ever F1 Grand Prix. 600 million people tuned in worldwide to watch one of the closest championship battles in the history of the sport and then at 3pm just as the start lights should go out, they decide that actually the race will not go ahead as planned.

Why? Because it was raining!

I have attended 100`s of GP`s over the years and have photographed many wetter ones than this, but for some reason we had to start the race behind the safety car. Then stop the race 4 laps later because the wet conditions were perceived to be dangerous. We then sat around for an hour whilst the rain still came down, until finally they paraded around behind the safety car yet again and eventually got the race going in fairly similar conditions to what we had at 3pm.


If the 24 most skilled drivers in the world cannot drive in the rain, then what a mad situation we have come to.

Ok other sports are occasionally affected by the weather. Cricket stops if it gets too dark, horse racers don`t like a frost. Footballers don`t like the snow. But come on, cars are designed to be driven in the wet. Drive to the conditions, grip and visibility that you have in front of you. And if this lot can`t negotiate the first corner then how do any of us get to the shops in a downpour?

The majority of the drivers drove to the grid on their intermediate tyres, and were then seen spinning and sliding all over the place. Well of course they were. They were gambling on the chance that they could get away with the inters, but arriving on the grid and deciding that actually they needed the full wets. But by then it was too late. The world tv audience and Charlie Whiting, the race director, had seen enough and the most exciting start to a race in a long time was going to be snatched from our hands at the last second.

I have great respect for Charlie. He is in a position where he has a huge burden on his shoulders to consider the safety, and his decision should be final. But the rest of the world wants to see a motor race and that has to be considered too.

And so after all the confusion we did have a race. And what a race it was. The action was thick and fast, there was overtaking galore, enough crashes and incidents to keep the crowd on their feet. Two of the championship contenders, Mark and Seb, failed to finish, turning the table on its head. So why oh why did we manage to have a race in the dark with no headlights, but we couldn`t have a race in the rain with no windscreen wipers?

Maybe the winners trophy should have been presented to the safety car?

Big in Japan

It's the fans that make the Japanese GP. Yes. Ok, the circuit is one of the most popular of the year, yes the un-predictable weather always throws up a few dramas but it`s the unique atmosphere of the Suzuka circuit that makes the Japanese GP weekend for me.

The fans arrive on the Thursday before the GP and fill the grandstands. We quite often see more fans on a Thursday in Suzuka than we see during the entire weekend at races such as Turkey and China.

And these are no ordinary fans.

It is a surreal experience being trackside as a photographer in Japan. The silence is eerie. We are so used to the fans being vocal, blowing air horns, shouting and screaming, but not in Japan.

In Australia the fans are drunk. In China they don`t understand it, in Bahrain they are so rich they don`t bother watching it, in Spain they shout and eat tapas, in Italy they are just simply passionate. The fans in Monaco are either asleep, drinking champagne or admiring bikini-clad women. The British fans are super keen and in their seats at 6am. The German fans are noisy, fat and usually half-naked. The Hungarians are either gorgeous or sunburnt. The Belgians are wet. The Brazilians are super passionate, bang drums and dance in the grandstands. The Turkish fans are quite simply not there.

But the Japanese are Bonkers!

They sit in the pouring rain, in silence, watching an empty track for hours on end. They dress up as horses, fairies, warriors and sumo wrestlers. They are super loyal to their favourite team and it is not uncommon to see fans wearing Jaguar, Arrows, BAR and Minardi merchandise from years gone by.
They enthusiastically wave their flags lap after lap each time Kamui drives past.

Let them close to their heroes and they simply break down in tears. Grown men shake and panic. Girls cry and scream.

There is an obsession for driver autographs. These normally reserved Japanese fans wait patiently outside the drivers hotel in hoards until they get a glimpse of their heroes. Then with black permanent marker pens in hand they mob the drivers for signatures.
As Bruno Senna arrived at the circuit on Sunday he raised his sleeve up to me with black marker pen all over him `Not bad, I only got done by 3 of them today`.

I remember a couple of years ago, for some reason, one fan was asking the drivers to sign their autograph on his face. Most drivers accepted the offer and scribbled all over this poor guys head. Rubens however decided that with the language barrier he could get away with writing various swear words all over this guys face, all of which are un-printable on this blog.

Quite simply bonkers!

Night Racing

I could get used to this, waking up in a comfortable bed at 2 o`clock in the afternoon, dragging myself to the pool for a hour or two and then a gentle stroll through Singapore`s leafy boulevards to work. Arriving at dusk just as the F1 Championship contenders battle it out at 200mph around the centre of this wonderful city. This is night racing and I like it.

Night racing suits me. I have always been slightly nocturnal, and not very good at getting up early in the mornings. This week I have been finishing my work at the circuit around 4am and then heading out to one of Singapores street markets for some food and a couple of beers. As I head to bed the rest of the city are sitting in traffic jams and squeezing onto the metro to get to work. I feel slightly guilty as I hang the do not disturb sign on my door and head off to bed.

To see F1 cars polished to within millimetres of their bare shells, glistening in the Singapore lights and the city skyline backdrop is truly stunning. Add to this a tricky, twisty and bumpy circuit that snakes it`s way around the landmarks of this iconic city passing offices, hotels, shops and restaurants and you have the ingredients for a fairly special evening. If you then consider that we arrived in Singapore with 5 drivers challenging for the 2010 championship then this looks like a classic.

Photographing at night brings with it a whole load of different options and interesting challenges. The use of light as always in photography is paramount, but with light in different colours, directions and strengths it really makes the photographers role an interesting one, and experimentation is key. Along with the technical element there is also the possibility available with all street circuits to shoot from elevated angles, buildings and ferris wheels. With glowing brake discs, flames and sparks coming from the cars you really are in a photographers dream.

Even at 10pm when the race finished I found myself wanting to carry on shooting. There are so many angles and photographs out there that I quite literally could have kept going all night.

That`s it for now though, as I have arrived back in the UK and it is way past my bedtime. I think?

'The 2010 Good Bloke Championship'

If there were a World Championship for nice blokes then Karun Chandock would be top of the table, with team-mate Bruno Senna following in a close second.
In fact you could just about turn the current F1 drivers championship table on it`s head and that would give you the `2010 Good Bloke Championship` standings.

Whether being a nice bloke relates to how quickly you drive I very much doubt, but there is certainly some correlation to the current crop of the drivers championship leaders loosing out to the other end of the paddock in personality stakes.

I first met and started working with Karun a few years ago and have always been very impressed at what a nice guy he is. He knows everyone, and I don`t just mean to say `hello` to in the paddock, he really knows them, he knows their name, their nickname, who they work for, their wives name, where they live and their phone number. It is not unknown for Karun to telephone me during a GP weekend and ask for my help or to see if I have a specific photo of him.

Karun realises that his position in F1 is fairly non-standard. He is there because he has the raw skill to compete with the best drivers in the World, but he is also there because he is Indian and he brings some much needed cash to a struggling team at the bottom end of the grid. Karun realises this and therefore has to make the very most of every second he is fortunate enough to be an F1 driver in a super competitive job role.
Karun manages his own sponsors, he organises garage visits and arranges photoshoots. He looks after his own PR and makes sure that at each GP the media have daily news to keep the 1 billion plus Indians up to date with his latest japery.
I have been with Karun at many autograph sessions this year and he is in his element. He is after all one of the biggest F1 fans I have ever met. He mingles with the paying public, throwing promotional caps into he crowd and talking with fellow F1 fans.
It is a great shame that Karun is currently missing out on a driving role at Hispania, but he understands the situation and is aware that if he wants his F1 career to continue further he basically has to shut up and wait to see what happens.

Karun was at the Hockenheim circuit last week, attending media events and interviews. He commentated for the BBC and was the usual role model for the team knowing fully well that the minute a cheque cleared Sakon Yamamoto was going to jump into his car.

This makes the Ferrari Team Order fiasco even more irrelevant.

Karun has been forced out of his drive by HRT team orders.

He has been ordered to sit on the sidelines until HRT feel that he can have his seat back. Hopefully this will be soon. Hopefully HRT will find the funding to allow their drivers to develop the car and arrive for the 2011 season on the right foot. Hopefully this will include Karun.

So as Fernando Alonso sat uncomfortably in the FIA post race press conference, having taken a fairly hollow win, avoiding journalists questions and arrogantly stamping his place as Ferrari team leader, maybe he should have given Karun a thought.

He drove back home to the UK on Saturday and was no doubt watching the race sat on his sofa in Brakley, with a curry on his lap, wondering if F1 is all that it is cracked up to be.

Love Hate Relationship

Things I love about the British GP:

The fact that I live 5 miles away. The atmosphere. The fact that everyone speaks English. The fact that I can sleep in my own bed. The Red Arrows. The beer. The staff in the media centre. The celebrity turnout. And very strangely this year, the weather.

Things I dislike about the British GP:

The circuit

Now this may seem like a flippant comment but it really is that bad. Don`t get me wrong, if you are a driver I`m sure it`s fantastic with its high speed corners and sweeping bends. As a fan it is pretty good too, with new facilities, good vantage points and a good atmosphere. But I am a photographer, and believe me this is the most difficult circuit that we visit to get a good selection of photos over the weekend.

The old shaped Silverstone was bad, but the new circuit layout has certainly shot to the top of the leader board of my least-favourite circuits to photograph.

It`s a shame as just about everything else about the place is spot on. I have had a lovely weekend. The weather has helped by being very un-English, the British fans are some of the best in the world and create a unique atmosphere especially as we have 2 World Champions at McLaren this year.

It has been wonderful having a houseful of friends and colleagues who have stayed during the week. We have partied, bbq`ed, eat well and generally had a very enjoyable weekend
Not even the World Cup Final managed to interrupt my Sunday.

Silverstone has done wonderfully well to host this years GP. Bearing in mind that we should really have been at Donington, and they were always a bit on the back foot getting ready for this years event. The circuit revisions have all been finished to a high standard and on time and the new pits and paddock building are looking good in time for next years GP.
But I just wish that this would also relate to the imagery that we aim to produce at each GP.

At every Grand Prix my aim is to produce imagery that not only shows the cars and drivers in the best possible way but also to portray a sense of the location of the race. In Melbourne we have the city skyline, In Bahrain the desert and palm trees, In Malaysia the stunning grandstand and the gravel traps painted in the colours of the Malaysian flag. In Montreal again a city backdrop and the St Lawrence River. Hungary, Belgium and Italy all have beautiful local colour and landscapes. Singapore and Abu Dhabi are quite literally stunning. Oh and Monaco you can just about fall over and take a beautiful photo.

So why, oh why at Silverstone do we have a featureless backdrop? Ok it`s a war time airfield and it doesn`t have the government funding enjoyed by other countries. But changes are happening at Silverstone. There are developments planned, let`s just hope that they think about the `Britishness` of the British GP and give us some photographic features in the future. Everything else is great, I just want to be able to take some nice pictures.