"Why do you do this? Because it's Formula 1.." -2010 Malaysian Grand Prix Photo Essay

[Exarkun]

There are thousands of words and 140+ pictures in this thread. Allocate 20-30 minutes to read them. _____________________________________________The question in the title was an actual question my lovely wife asked me.Wife: "Why go through the insane heat, the suffocating humidity, the torrential downpour with lightning criss-crossing the sky for F1?"Me: "Because this is Formula 1...Nothing beats the rush I get whenever F1 weekend is around the corner. Because F1 is the pinnacle of motorsports. The best of the best are here. The latest racing technologies are created here."Wife: "Oh.."Me: "Also because I like to see cars go round and round for 50 over laps" :21:Wife: *slaps palm to own forehead*Yes folks, it's that time again. The Formula 1 circus was back in town last weekend and I was there to drink in and savour the intense atmosphere.I've prepared myself this year with upgrades to my gear to 'supposedly' get better shots and pictures. The Nikon D80 transformed into a Nikon D300 (bought used of course). Joining my 4 year old venerable Nikkor 18-200mm VR were the Nikkor 70-200mm VR f2.8 (bought used of course), Nikkor 1.7x teleconverter (bought used of course) and the Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 VC (bought used of course, see a pattern here? :wink.Hopefully with the above arsenal I'll get more useable shots. Previous years was using the trusty Nikon D50 (2007) and Nikon D80 (2008 and 2009) and the 18-200mm VR alone. Turns out, if you see from the 140+ pics (eep!) I'm about to post, all turned out pretty much the same. FRIDAY (2nd April 2010)Friday began with the urge and desire to come and shoot the Free Practice session. Since Sepang gave the public free entrance to the mall area, I thought why not just take the day off from work and shoot from the tower. Luckily, I anticipated the 'urge' and all my gears were already packed and waiting for me at the main door. (Yes, I'm anal that way).Arrived kinda late at Sepang. Had to settle a few things at the office before driving off like a mad man. It was 11am when I got there and the 1st of the Free Practice session of the day was already almost over. Unpacked the D300 and starting firing rapid bursts of shots. #1. Robert Kubica negotiated Turn 15 with his Renault R30.

#2. Felipe Massa in his Ferrari F10. All recovered from his freak accident in Hungary GP last year when a suspension spring fell off Rubens Barichello's Brawn BGP 001 and struck Massa on his helmet.

#3. Rubens Barichello in his Williams FW32.

To be continued...

 

[Exarkun]

One of the few reasons I got quite excited this year was that, Michael Schumacher, the SEVEN times Formula 1 World Champion is BACK after a 3 year hiatus!

I guess the thrill and rush of Formula 1 got the better of him when Ross Brawn approached Michael Schumacher for a possible return in the new Mercedes GP Team (formerly known as Brawn GP. Mercedes bought the team from Ross Brawn but still kept him as Team Principal, hoping to duplicate Brawn GP's success last year.)

#4. Michael Schumacher in his Mercedes MGP W01.

Soon the practice session was over and it all became quiet. Looked around and noticed a few familiar faces in the crowd of photographers.

#5. Fellow photographers

After about 15 minutes the Formula BMW session got underway. Most shooters opted to relax and ignore it completely. (See above picture. Tehehe.)


#6. Formula BMW car going around Turn 15.

TBC.

 

[Exarkun]

Then I caught up with a fellow photographer I always bump into in the Media Centre at other Sepang events. A couple minutes of chatting with him and he invited me to go over the back of the paddock and hang out with him and other official SIC photographers.

HOLY CRAP! BACK paddock access during a Formula 1 weekend!??

Quickly straddled his scooter and zipped past everyone to head for the pit area. Along the way he managed to spy a pretty promoter and braked right in front of her booth.

#7. "HARLO!! LENG LUI!! TAKE PICTURE!!" - Friend. (I just shoot quietly behind him )

Then it's off to the paddock area!

#8. The back paddock area. Where the who's who hangs out. Where the drivers stroll leisurely from one team tent to another. I wonder who will I bump into?

#9. A Ferrari team member cooling down with an ice cream. Eating ice cream seems to be the popular thing here in the paddock.

#10. OOooo...two nice round things...(ahem, it's wheels guys. Not the other 'round things')

TBC.

 

[Exarkun]

#11. Another Ferrari member de-stressing with a ciggy.

#12. Damn...look at that bazooka of a lens. Made my 70-200 puny in comparison.

#13. Sebastien Buemi of Scuderia Toro Rosso.

#14. Nick Heidfeld. Now a test and reserve driver for the Mercedes GP Petronas F1 team.

TBC.

 

[Exarkun]

After about 10 minutes, I headed back into the Photographers Area. It's actually located below the Perdana Suite. I hung out in there while drinking copious amount of cold cold water to cool down. Damn it's hot at Sepang on Friday.

In the Area, I get to watch photographers come in and out, offload their memory cards to their computers and begin editing. It was interesting to see some of the processes these people went through.

It certainly helped me in my process when preparing and editing the photos for this thread.

Soon, the second Free Practice session was about to start. Then, I got a tap on my shoulder.

Friend 2 : "You want to shoot from the track side?"

Me: WOULD I??!

I have this list I made for myself of the things I want to do and items to get before I die that I keep to help me motivate myself whenever I feel depressed or need the extra push to work harder and succeed. Shooting Formula 1 from the trackside is pretty much one of the top 5 in the list. The question above meant that I can cross that from the list.

If I die the next day, I die a happy man.

To FRIEND 1 and FRIEND 2, A VERY BIG THANK YOU AND ETERNAL GRATITUDE FOR MAKING ONE OF MY DREAMS COME TRUE. You know who you are.

Friend 2 : "Come follow me to track side."

With hands shaking from excitement I picked my D300 and quickly followed him to Turn 1, 2 and 3 Inside.

Fired a few shots and decided I needed longer range. So I attached the 1.7x teleconverter and began shooting.

#15. Fernando Alonso in his Ferrari F10.

#16. Mark Webber of Red Bull Racing in his Red Bull RB6. That's Alonso in the background.

#17. FRIEND 2

#18. Michael Schumacher in his Mercedes MGP W01.

#19. Sebastien Buemi in the Toro Rosso STR5 powered by the Ferrari 056 engine.

TBC.

 

[Exarkun]

I stayed at Turn 1, 2 and 3 during the entire 2nd Free Practice session. I did not dare venture to other turns even though I am quite familiar with SIC layout and the kind of shots I can get from the other turns. FIA is very strict compared to the other organization that runs the other events and I did not want to press my luck.


#20. Felipe Massa getting slightly out of shape.

#21. Adrian Sutil in his Force India VJM03. (VJM for Vijay Mallya, the owner of Force India)

#22.

#23. Schumacher.

TBC.

 

[Exarkun]

This year Formula 1 saw the entry of three new teams, Virgin Racing, Hispania Racing F1 Team and Lotus Racing. A fourth team, USF1, should have been here but they came up short financially and had to defer to 2011 season.

Lotus Racing you see now is not the same as the old Team Lotus of the 50s until the 90s. This time, it's own by a group of Malaysian companies with the backing of the governement under the guise of 1Malaysia.

It is said that IF Lotus Racing wins a race in the future, the anthem to be played during the team portion of the celebration will be Negaraku.


#24. Heikki Kovalainen in the Lotus T127. Lotus Racing decided to continue the naming convention from the old Team Lotus to maintain the heritage. So no 001 numbered car for Lotus Racing.

By this time I decided to move closer to Turn 1 and get some tight shots of the drivers in their cars.

#25. Alonso.

#26. 2009 World Champion Jenson Button in his McLaren MP4-25. He is now partnered with Lewis Hamilton, 2008 World Champion. This marks the 2nd time a team having two World Champion as their drivers. The 1st time was when Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna paired, also at McLaren during the 1989 season, 21 years ago.

#27. Nico Rosberg. He seems to be trouncing Schumacher his teammate this season. 5th to Michael's 6th in Bahrain and 5th to Michael's 10th in Australia.

TBC.

 

[Exarkun]

The other prominent entrance to the Formula 1 circus is the addition of Bruno Senna to the new Hispania Racing F1 Team. If the surname sounds familiar, it should. He's the nephew of the deceased three times Formula 1 World Champion Ayrton Senna. His mother is Ayrton's sister, Viviane.

Previously running 2nd overall in the 2008 GP2 series, he opted for Le Mans in 2009 after Honda, the team he was to join pulled out. Brawn (from the ashes of Honda) opted to keep Jenson Button and Rubens Barichello as their drivers...and it paid off.

Bruno Senna is carving a name for himself and pundits have noted his similar driving style with his uncle's. He wears a slightly modified version of his uncle's helmet. It definately gave me and fans a lump in the throat and chills down the spine seeing that almost familiar helmet in an F1 car once again.


#28. Bruno Senna in his HRT F110.

#29. Felipe Massa locking up under braking.

#30. Note the 2 of the few companies involved with Lotus Racing. Proton (who owns Lotus Group) and Naza. Love the addition of the Malaysian flag to the bodywork. GO MALAYSIA!

#31. Pedro de la Rosa in his BMW Sauber C29. Note that BMW has nothing to do with the 2010 cars. In fact their cars are running Ferrari 056 engines. Due to the lateness of the BMW pull out from the sport last year, the name BMW Sauber that the team submitted prior to the pull out remains. The team is now petitioning to change their name to just Sauber.

TBC.

 

[Exarkun]

#32. Exiting the pits.

#33. A closer look at Michael Schumacher.

#34. After a few years of hiatus, HP is back as a sponsor. This time with the Renault F1 team. Previously they were with Williams.

The other new team I'm going to highlight is Virgin Racing. Virgin sponsored Brawn GP last year but opted to enter as a team this year after Mercedes bought over Brawn. Their car was designed entirely in the digital realm with no wind tunnel testing whatsover.

However, recently the team realised that they did not design a car with big enough fuel tank to last the entire race. :stupid:

You see, refuelling is banned this year. All cars were designed with bigger fuel tank to accomodate the entire race length. Virgin's seems to be short by 13 litres and may run dry before the end of some races! :stupid: They now have to run at lower power to conserve fuel to finish the races. A new chasis with a bigger tank is not expected until the early part of the European races. Read it here: Virgin to redesign car.


#35. Lucas di Grassi in the Virgin VR-01. Will he and his teammate Timo Glock last the entire race in Sepang? We will find out on Sunday! Wheeee!! )

TBC.

 

[Exarkun]

Soon the 2nd Free Practice session ended and I headed back to the pits. Again hung out at the Photographers Area with bottles of cool cool water to rehydrate.

I always lose about 2-3kgs during a session in Sepang. Mostly water though. Apparently fat does not melt even under the intense heat of Sepang. How I wish it would. I would have been a very thin person by now. WAhahahah!!

Again I observed the official photographers doing their thing while I chill out in the air conditioned room. The OFFICIAL SIC PHOTOGRAPHERS get a whole room to themselves while the others including international photogs gets to share two common areas. So lucky...


At 4pm the pitlane was open for the one of many Paddock Club walks. Since it's Friday and no one was around in the paddock it was relatively empty.

#36. The relatively 'empty' pit lane. See Sunday for the 'full' one.

#37. Pushing a car back to the garage after the FIA scrutineering session

#38. The RM2,000,000 safety car. The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. Awesome machine. You can buy this at the mentioned price, without the blinking lights though.

#39. Petronas staff checking her crackberry. They all seems to be addicted to that thing. Me? I'm an iPhone user :wink:

TBC.

 

[Exarkun]

#40. Spare noses.

#41. Details of the brake system of the Ferrari F10.

#42. Engine cover for the Ferrari 056 engine for the BMW Sauber car. Confusing I know. :dontknow:

#43. "Other people do real jobs. I only get to wheel out used tyres. Sigh...one day, I'll be running this place. Mark my words."

With that I decided to head home. Got kids to fetch from school. I know Formula 1 is everything but kids do come before F1.

Popped my head through the OFFICIAL SIC PHOTOG room and bid farewell. A chorus of goodbyes trailed behind me as I closed the door and head home with my not so impressive haul of pictures for Friday.

Tomorrow is another day.

TBC .

 

[Exarkun]

SATURDAY (3rd April 2010)

Yawnnn....it's Saturday and I felt lazy. Wow I must be getting old.

Took me a few minutes of contemplating whether to go to Sepang and see Qualifying. All I had for saturday was the Citrine grandstand tickets that I won last year from SIC themselves when they ran that F1 Photography contest.

At least give la Tower tickets or something nicer. :stupid:

Ahem... anyway, wife said need to go KL to settle new tenant moving into our apartment. Sigh... that's settled then. Miss Saturday? Maybe.

However, the thing with the tenant was settled much earlier and I had time to spare. What to do? Drive to Sepang!!! With the 'in case I need' camera bag already in the car boot. MUahAhahAHAH...(yes, again I'm anal that way).

Parked the car and walked into the Welcome Area. Wow, definately more people today.

#44.

It was scorching hot again in Sepang but dark clouds were coming in. Might be raining during qualifying. Hmm... to stay or not to stay.

Stay a bit and shoot the girls?

#45. This is how hot Sepang was. "Ahhh......"

#46. The "Ahhh....." girl looking sheepish after getting caught by my camera.

#47. Yes, I stayed at the LG booth for quite a while

With that I went through the gates and walked to the Citrine part of the grandstand.

Along the way was a display of classic F1 cars.

#48. Ayrton Senna's Lotus 99T (Remember the naming convention thingy?)

TBC.

 

[Exarkun]

I looked for Citrine and found that it was facing the back end of the circuit. Damn... this is going to suck.

The 3rd Free Practice Session was already running and I saw an impassionately observed the cars zipping by. Tried taking some shots through the fence along the straight but all the pictures came out crap.

After a while I got bored and decided to move off. The dark clouds were coming and I don't want to get caught in the torrential rain.

Walked back towards the gates and shot one more classic car.

#49. Michael Schumacher's Benetton B192.

#50. Nice peekaboo tattoo...

#51. The owner of the peekaboo tattoo.

#52. Some girl shooters. Every year LG seems to hire cuter and cuter booth girls and every year more and more photographers hang out here.

#53.

Yes I'm not a good portrait shooter. I have no idea how to tell them to pose and so on. Hence the same pose for all the girls

The clouds got darker and darker and I made a bee line towards my car and drove off. Qualifying was not due to start for another hour but I've had enough for today.

Reached home, switched on my laptop, logged onto BBC UK website and watch qualifying from their live web coverage with a cold glass of Diet Coke while the heavens opened up and poured tons and tons of water onto the track.

Cars were sliding off the tracks and the grid got turned upside down by the time qualifying ended, with both Ferraris and both McLarens somewhere at the back.

I messaged a fellow contest winner and asked if he was at Sepang for qualifying.

The reply I got was:
" I was there for the 3rd practice. Then left. Watch from home."

WaahAhAHAHHAHAH!!! He did EXACTLY the same thing I did!!!

TBC. Sunday...

 

[Exarkun]

SUNDAY (4th April 2010)

Woke up much refreshed on Sunday. Again contemplate to go with Citrine or not to Race Day. Fellow contest winner got his ticket 'upgraded' to Tower, lucky guy. I'm still stuck with Citrine.

That is until this came to the house in the wee hours of Sunday morning.

#54. Petronas Paddock Club pass.

Talk about LAST MINUTE!! Grabbed the camera bag with all the stuff in it and head for the car. Again bag was already waiting at the door. (Me... anal... I know)

Drove like a mad man to Sepang and reached there at 9:45am. Early I know. The race starts at 4pm!! I'm INSANE!! :thefinger: Parked the car at PO parking and flagged a shuttle to the Paddock Club area.

Then discovered that the club area was closed! WTF!? Took out the accompanying schedule and saw it will open at 11am. That's for not reading your given schedule.

With 1 1/2 hours of time to kill, I trekked to the other end of the paddock to the Photographers Area, and 'sneaked' in.

Opened the door to the 'special' room and the Official SIC Photogs were taking a group photo.

Me: "Oopps...sorry"

Them: "COME!! COME!! JOIN US!!"

Me: "Uh ok... "

Them: "Pass your Nikon D300 and the 70-200." (They proceed to put them in the sea of Nikon gears that was on the floor in front of them. I'm talking every known body and lenses that I could think of!

*Snap* *Snap* The result of that my 'interrupting' the group shot is here: "Link to the actual pictures"

Everyone picked up their Nikon gears and started to go to their assigned stations and get some photos. I felt like an intruder. But the thing is they welcomed me like I was part of their official team. They joked and prod me like an old buddy. I've known most of them only the past few days. I truly felt welcomed.

I stayed until about 10:50am, getting my D300 serviced and sensor cleaned for free by the Nikon Malaysia staff that was there as support to Nikon users. I then walked back across the paddock to go into the club area. However noticed that the pit lane was opened for Paddock Club walk. DOH! Read the schedule properly next time, Exarkun!

#55. Hispania Racing practicing their pitstops.

#56. Ooo... Petronas Grid Girls!

#57. Slow shutter experiment with the practice pitstop.

TBC.

 

[Exarkun]

#58. "Hi......" *wink* *wink* (Alamak...perasan!)

#59. Some artsy-fartsy shot of the team ribbon barrier.

#60. Eye contact.

#61. You snipe grid girl, I snipe you.

TBC.

 

[Exarkun]

#62. Petronas Grid Girls. (Phone numbers were not asked. Wife will throw me into the river if I asked for their numbers.)

#63. A closer look at some of the girls.

#64. Official SIC Photog shooing someone trying to get fresh with the grid girls, which turned out to be another Official SIC Photog. Wahahahah!!

#65. Another 'closer' look at the grid girls.

#66. Lighted McLaren logo in their garage.

TBC.

 

[Exarkun]

#67. Closeup of Virgin Racing front wings.

At 11:45am I decided to finally go up to Petronas Paddock Club suite. It was getting unbearably hot and I did not have my sunblock on at the time. I was literally getting cooked.

All sweaty, I went up and proceed to tag in. Immediately was blasted by the super cold air conditioned welcome suite. A waiter with a tray of ice cold water was waiting. I grabbed two glasses and quickly downed them. The waiter raised his eyebrow and a gave once over at my sweaty look. :stupid:

Ignoring him, I walked to Petronas suite, which is at the end most of the paddock. Why... so... far... away... *wheeze*.

#68. Snapped Lotus suite.

#69. Finally at Petronas suite.

#70. These lovely ladies waited for me.

They greeted me, tagged my Petronas Paddock Club pass, gave me a 'lucky' draw number and some goodies.

#71. The goodies.

TBC.

 

[Exarkun]

#72.

#73. The table set-up. For fine dining only please. No roti canai or nasi goreng kampung. The cards you see on the tables are for the autograph session later.

#74. The Petronas ambassador helping to document and take pictures for the guest. I take my own pictures, thank you ma'am.

TBC.

 

[Exarkun]

At around 12:30pm the emcee announced that BOTH the drivers, Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg will be coming up to meet us. WHOO!!!!


#75. It's SCHUMI!!! And Rosberg.

#76. After answering some standard questions from the emcee and the guests, they proceed to sign the pictures behind them.

As I was busy taking their pictures, I completely forgot to actually ask them to sign my own Mercedes cap that was given earlier! CRAP!!! Oh well, opportunity lost I guess.

They left about 10 minutes and the guests went back to chit chatting over nothing. My stomach started to grumble and I wondered when are they going to serve lunch.

#77. Let's see what's on the menu.

Hmm... looks nice.. but still few minutes away... what to do now?

TBC.

 

[Exarkun]

Let's take a walk along the paddock corridors shall we. Might be able to find something or someone to shoot. Lunch was still a few minutes away and I really don't know most of the people in the suite. So striking up a conversation was already out. I'm not that chatty.

#78. Eating refreshing fruits?

#79. Wandered past the Ferrari suite and saw an Etihad stewardess outside chatting with a Ferrari crew member. Tried to snipe a shot but she noticed and proceed to give me a big smile. Nice....

#80. Obligatory Exarkun tyre shots

#81. Timo Glock of Virgin Racing.

#82. Girls from the adjacent suite. M.Scape suite. What the heck is M.Scape??

Hmm... might be lunch now.

TBC.