Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2017 i AUTOSPORT

During the second practice session on the Friday of the Belgian GP, I was shooting inside the McLaren garage. It looked as if it was about to rain, so most cars were staying in the pits. I asked Fernando Alonso’s number-one mechanic, Lee Hart, whether Fernando was planning to go out again and discovered that he was. I took my long lens and wet-weather gear and went to the top of the pitlane. As the cars enter the pits they head over a crest, so I stood there to wait for the McLaren to come into view. There was so much rain coming down that you can see it bouncing off the track in front of the car, and being lifted back up into the air as spray. Photographer LAT…

It’s funny how you get used to things. Monza’s unusual but brilliant podium, which extends out over the pitlane and brings the drivers that much closer to the crowd, still feels like a recent addition even though it was built ten years ago. The challenge here, then, is to find a different angle, while bearing in mind that the drivers might not be standing where you’d like them to be. Thanks to our friends in the Formula One Group communications team, I was shooting at the same height as the podium this year – from FOG’s office window, in fact. Lewis then obliged by walking forwards to spray the champagne from just the right spot. He’s a pro. Photographer LAT IMAGES: Steven Tee Where Monza, Italy When 3.38pm, Sunday 3…

1 Standing next to the airline for the wheelgun is Aidan Carvell, rear jack man for Stoffel Vandoorne’s McLaren. He wheels his jack under the rear of the MCL32 to lift it up so the tyres can be changed. 2 An FIA scrutineer is allocated to each team garage with the primary purpose of checking tyre temperatures and scanning the barcodes on the Pirelli rubber to monitor the allocation of tyres. 3 This structure is taken by McLaren to every GP. It provides lighting and power for the tyre-warming blankets and contains fans, compressed airlines, radio communication technology and garage cameras. 4 Vandoorne uses this touch-screen TV to switch between world feed, timing screen and circuit GPS. In the pitlane is number one mechanic, Fabien Warner, who will tell him…

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“ HORNER BELIEVED RED BULL WERE THE SECOND QUICKEST IN THE RACE, BUT CONCEDED MERCEDES WERE ‘IN A CLASS OF THEIR OWN’” This was a bitter blow for Ferrari. At their home race, in their 70th anniversary year, they were well and truly beaten at Monza. And to cap it all, in this tight world championship contest, Lewis Hamilton wrestled away the points lead from Sebastian Vettel for the first time this season. On the very first lap, Hamilton had driven off into the distance. He stayed there and was swiftly joined by his team-mate, Valtteri Bottas, to secure an emphatic one-two for Mercedes. Standing on the podium overlooking the sea of Ferrari fans and flags afterwards, Hamilton was all too aware of what he’d achieved in his rivals’ backyard,…

THE MAIN EVENT Suzuka is perhaps the most complete race track in F1. As you’d expect from a circuit designed as a test track, the Beast in the East demands a bit of everything: fast changes of direction in the first sector; precise low-speed performance in the second; and high speeds in the third. It causes the sort of setup dilemmas guaranteed to bring engineers out in a cold sweat. It doesn’t have a signature corner, and therein lies its appeal: they’re all signature corners, tripping off the tongue with the familiarity of the ages: Dunlop, Degner, Spoon, The Hairpin, 130R. Howsoever the cars change from era to era, there is always a sequence at Suzuka ready-made to extract the maximum from them – and there is no finer sight…

WHY VISIT? If you love F1 and want to escape the cold European winter, book a trip to Abu Dhabi for this November’s GP. There’s every chance that 2017’s thrilling world championship fight between Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton will go right down to the wire, and the showdown could take place at the 20th and final race on this year’s calendar at the Yas Marina circuit. While this isn’t one of the most challenging tracks for the drivers, the venue’s facilities and the spectacular location – not to mention the guaranteed good weather – make the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix a race well worth visiting. Abu Dhabi and Dubai are both located on the Gulf Coast, about an hour apart by car. This is a booming region, noted for…

Before the start of the Belgian Grand Prix, I positioned myself at the bottom of the hill at Eau Rouge, with my lens facing away from the field. I wasn’t even looking back up the hill to La Source to watch the pack descending towards me, I was just listening out for their approach as I remained in this position with my camera ready. Instead of panning along with the pack, I photographed them using a high shutter speed as they swarmed past – so this shot is just one of a whole sequence of images. Standing at one of the world’s most famous corners at one of the most iconic F1 tracks with this generation of car racing past gives you a real buzz. Photographer LAT IMAGES : Lorenzo…

THE POWER OF DREAMS 01 He is 15th in the championship, has not won a race for four and a half years and it’s hard to see when or even if he might win again. But there Fernando Alonso was on the Thursday before the Italian Grand Prix, underlining his status as one of Formula 1’s biggest box-office draws. In the McLaren motorhome for his regular media briefing, Alonso was swamped by journalists wanting to know the latest twists in a saga that leaves the career of arguably the greatest Formula 1 driver of the past decade hanging in the balance. Had he ‘parked’ the car four days before in Belgium? Had he told McLaren that if Honda stayed as their engine supplier, he would leave? Would he go to…

OCTOBER 1 October > F1 Malaysian Grand Prix, Sepang International Circuit 8 October > F1 Japanese Grand Prix, Suzuka 21-22 October > Estoril Classic Festival, Estoril, Portugal Last chance of the year to see on-track action featuring the FIA Masters championship for 3-litre F1 cars from 1966-85, plus a great opportunity to see curios such as the Fittipaldi F5A and Arrows A1 running competitively. This will also be the penultimate outing of 2017 for the Historic Grand Prix Association. 22 October > F1 US Grand Prix, Circuit of The Americas 27-29 October > Algarve Classic Festival, Portimão, Portugal A great way to bring the curtain down on a season of retro racing, this festival includes the last outing of the year for the Historic Grand Prix Association’s eclectic multi-class format,…

There’s a long main road stretching far into the distance, so similar to many others in Finland – dead straight, with just the occasional logging truck to overtake – lined by the ubiquitous pine trees, brooding lakes and little red log cabins: a Sibelius symphony framed within an archetypal landscape. The sun is setting and there’s not a soul to be seen: during the Finnish summer, 8pm is appointed sauna time. Everything stops in a haze of steam and quiet contemplation. But turn off the main road and approach the seemingly deserted town of Nastola (population, 14,000) and a few incongruous aspects will grab your attention. First, a goth-like man with a ponytail driving a beaten-up Lada that’s at least ten years older than he is. With the amount of…

The 1972 and 1974 Belgian GPs were crucial wins for Emerson Fittipaldi on his way to championship glory, but today the expanse of Walloon countryside where they took place is better remembered for a different battle: Wellington’s victory over Napoleon, a few miles up the road, in 1815. The passing years have not been kind to Nivelles-Baulers, the circuit that once formed part of a lofty plan to split the hosting of the Belgian GP between the Flemish (represented by Zolder) and Wallonian parts of the country on alternate years, in place of safety-compromised Spa-Francorchamps. Derided from the off as an unchallenging substitute for Spa, Nivelles-Baulers met its – ahem – Waterloo when the money ran out within three years of it opening its gates. The owners had already failed…

 FOR MOST BRAZILIANS, football is almost a religion in itself. Last summer, as Felipe Massa contemplated his impending retirement, F1 Racing asked him whether he would prefer to be Formula 1 world champion, or the winning scorer for Brazil in a World Cup final. It was a question freighted with what-might-have-beens, since Massa was champion-elect for a few feeting moments in the final grand prix of 2008. “WHEN I FIRST MET LANCE HE WAS SEVEN YEARS OLD, THE AGE MY SON IS NOW, AND NOW HE’S MY TEAM-MATE. IT’S PAINFUL FOR ME ACTUALLY, BUT I HAVE A GOOD RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM AND HIS FAMILY. I’M HERE TO HELP AND IT’S A PLEASURE FOR ME TO PASS ON EVERYTHING THAT I CAN” Weighing his answer carefully, Massa replied that F1 is…

THE MAIN EVENT Marina Bay astonished everyone who turned up to its debut race in 2008 when they saw the circuit lit up like the proverbial Christmas tree. It was beyond spectacular – and had an atmosphere that subsequent imitator night races have more-or-less completely failed to replicate. Nine years on, it remains the most intense driver challenge on the F1 calendar. The sapping heat and humidity are problematic; so too are the 23 corners of vicious kerbs, low grip and unhelpfully situated bumps, all keen to throw the unwary or plain unlucky into the omnipresent walls. These they have to survive for the full two hours. Last year’s Singapore Grand Prix was the quickest ever, at a sprightly 1hr 55m 48.950s. The race has twice been stopped on the…

The inside of La Source, Turn 1 at Spa, is probably the closest any photographer can get to the cars at any circuit we visit. This perspective is enhanced by the fisheye lens I’ve used here, giving a wide-angle view of the Renault of Nico Hülkenberg, which is less than a metre from where I’m standing. To take this shot, I first panned with the leaders, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, and then tried to capture as much as possible after that. It’s only after the entire field had rounded the first corner that I got the chance to look at the back of my camera to see what I’d actually taken; when it’s happening there is just a blur of cars rushing past. Photographer LAT IMAGES: Steven Tee Where…

I shot the beginning of the Belgian Grand Prix from the outside of La Source, but then I had to make my way back to the pitlane to photograph TV’s Guy Martin, who was part of Williams’ pitstop crew, responsible for taking off the left rear during the pitstops. On the way there, I noticed an area where Paddock Club guests stand and wondered if I could compose an image where the car is passing between them – similar to when you shoot a car on the track passing between the trees. I’ve ended up with this great blur of different colours and a real feeling of speed as Nico Hülkenberg blasts down the hill out of the exit of La Source. Photographer LAT IMAGES: Glenn Dunbar Where Spa, Belgium…

15.08.17  FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting visits Argentina to evaluate Buenos Aires circuit 21.08.17  Formula 1 launches new global eSports series 22.08.17  Räikkönen is given a one-year Ferrari contract extension 23.08.17  Don Nichols, founder of the Shadow F1 team that raced in 1970s, dies aged 92 23.08.17  It’s announced that Vandoorne will stay at McLaren for 2018 26.08.17  Vettel signs a new three-year contract with Ferrari 27.08.17  Force India threaten drivers with race bans after Spa crash 04.09.17  Ferrari extend Marlboro deal…

IN THE SILVER CORNER Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Age: 32 Nationality: British World titles: 3 IN THE RED CORNER Sebastian Vettel Ferrari Age: 30 Nationality: German World titles: 4 This championship battle has been ten years in the making. Remarkably, since they first burst onto the F1 scene, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel have never properly fought head-to-head for a world title – until now. Between them they have claimed seven convincingly earned drivers’ championships, yet Hamilton and Vettel have seldom shared a racetrack while on peak form in closely matched machinery. When Hamilton won his first championship, in 2008, Vettel was busy confirming his future-star status with some storming drives for Toro Rosso, culminating in that unforgettable victory at Monza – a first for both team and driver. Vettel was…

IN THE PURSUIT OF PERFECTION, a photographer constantly strives for the crispest, sharpest image possible. So it’s a touch ironic that US photographer Joshua Paul’s story begins with Blur. In May 2013, Paul travelled to Barcelona to photograph the band at a music festival, but, as a long-time fan of Formula 1, he learned that the gig was being held on the same weekend as the Spanish Grand Prix. He applied for accreditation and, to his surprise, was granted an F1 press pass. Much of his previous work had involved landscape photography in exotic locations, such as Mozambique and the Amazon, for adventure travel magazines. He chose to apply those same techniques – wide angle, low to the horizon – to photograph F1 cars trackside. Before he knew it, the…

“MERCEDES DELIBERATELY CHOSE NOT TO TAKE THE W03 TO THE FIRST PRE-SEASON TEST AT JEREZ, TO ALLOW MORE TIME TO DEVELOP THE CAR” Mercedes returned to Formula 1 in 2010 after a 55-year break, to high hopes all round. They took over the champion Brawn GP team and lured seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher out of retirement to join the talented Nico Rosberg. Now all they needed was a car to make them winners again. In truth, this long-awaited comeback didn’t bear fruit straight away, with only three podiums for Rosberg in 2010 and none at all in 2011. Despite their hugely experienced staff and the advantage of having their own engine plant in nearby Brixworth, it was time to step performances up a notch. Taking advantage of a relatively…

“ VETTEL HARRIED HAMILTON TO LES COMBES, LEWIS KEEPING AHEAD ONLY BECAUSE OF HIS EXQUISITE FEEL FOR THE BOUNDARIES OF GRIP UNDER BRAKING” Twenty-five years after Michael Schumacher’s breakthrough victory at Spa-Francorchamps, Lewis Hamilton equalled the seven-time champion’s mighty tally of 68 pole positions, before driving to yet another win under colossal pressure from Sebastian Vettel in the final quarter of the race. Hamilton still has some way to go to surpass Schumacher’s 91 victories, but he was certainly on impressive form, beating last year’s pole time by 4.2s, and soaking up the pressure after a Safety-Car period eliminated the advantage he’d built over the opening portion of the race. QUALIFYING Hamilton was peerless in Q3. Fastest through all three sectors, he set a new track record in the process.…

THE MAIN EVENT Making its debut in 1999, the Malaysian Grand Prix was a forerunner for the shape of 21st-century F1. It kick-started F1’s Asian diaspora, becoming the first country to secure a grand prix without really having any particular motorsport heritage to hang it off. However, this 19th season of racing on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur will probably be the last – although its legacy will remain. Sepang has tended to be a circuit that delivers a good race rather than a great one. Traction onto and pace along the two long straights dominate, and the heavy stops into the Turn 1-2 complex and the signature final corner hairpin offer plenty of overtaking opportunities. But Sepang also has variety, with a twisting, high-speed middle sector that prevents it…