Formula One Austrian Grand Prix
Super Max, that was the theme of the entire weekend. Being a first grand prix I did not know what to expect. I had to bring all the toys with me. 16-35mm, 24-70mm, and 100-400mm (most used) lenses with me, along with a second camera body. The Sony A7IV.
Needless to say, the atmosphere and the area just continuously built every single day. Many Dutch fans were there for Max Verstappen the Red Bull Racing driver. They also brought a lot of orange. Orange being the royal color for the Dutch. The Grand Prix consists of 3 days. The first day was Practice 1 and Qualifying. The second day was Practice 2 and The Sprint Race (A short 24 lap race). On the third and final day was the race. Below are photos from the first day.
Poor Lando Norris in the McLaren and Lewis Hamilton of the Mercedes had unfortunate events happen. Lando with a power unit problem and Lewis losing the grip and having a hard hit. Both came out of it unharmed though.
Lewis Hamilton exiting his Mercedes W13.
The second day was Practice 2 and the Sprint Race. The seats I had were on the main straight and because I had my 100-400mm lens (and a 2x Teleconverter), it provided me with a lot of unique shots. While things were far away for most, they were close for me. Notable photos were Charles LeClerc (my favorite driver) waving to me, Zak Brown (CEO of McLaren Racing) inspecting the Ferrari front wing, Lando Norris speaking with his racing engineer, and Red Bull Racing advisor Helmut Marko walking down the straight.
The third and final day. Race day. It was full of over takes, suspense, tragedy, and for me one to never forget. It started on the dot of 3:00pm Austria time, the seat I had was at turn one of the circuit. Due to the unique nature of the track, I was able to see all the turns but the second to last one. The big tragedy of the race though was for Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz, who on the back straight of the circuit had his engine blow up on him. At the end of the race though, it had to be my favorite driver that won. Charles LeClerc, 52 laps later was victorious. After the race the fans in orange flooded the circuit and the rest was history.
