Silverstone 2014, British Grand Prix

Herewith a sprinkling of snaps from the weekend just past. I forgot to get trackside in time for the historic parade on either Friday or Saturday, so had to make amends on Sunday. Given the slightly cramped raceday timetable - and the fact that the circuit's twin paddocks are in different counties (strange, but true) - I subsequently had to miss either the Red Arrows, lunch or a grid walk. After due consideration, I opted for the Red Arrows and an egg mayonnaise sandwich, so I'm afraid the traditional grid shots are absent...


1 - Fernando Alonso spent much of his weekend being hassled by Red Bulls. This is Daniel Ricciardo in pursuit on Friday (K-5 IIs, Sigma 100-300mm f4, DA 1.4TC)


2 - The essence of a Silverstone summer (K-5, DA 17-70mm f4, three shots stitched together)


3 - The other essence of a Silverstone summer, with race winner thrown in (K-5 IIs, Sigma 100-300mm f4)


4 - Damon Hill and the art of the selfie, taken aboard his dad's Lotus 49B (K-5 IIs, Sigma 100-300mm f4)


5 - British racing driver in the foreground, British Racing Drivers' Club pavilion over his shoulder (K-5 IIs, Sigma 100-300mm f4)


6 - Opposites being attractive (K5 IIs, Sigma 100-300mm f4)


7 - The only way to make a Caterham look vaguely quick (Kamui Kobayashi at 1/125, with K-5 IIs and Sigma 100-300mm f4)


8 - Prince tunes in to racetrack royalty (K-5 IIs, Sigma 100-300mm f4


9 - Some more of the weekend's closest action (K-5 IIs, Sigma 100-300mm f4)


10 - Daniel Ricciardo (K-5, DA 17-70mm f4 at 1/60)

Very strong set, I'm very impressed.

Great mix of shots

Great set. The only suggestion I can think of is to clone out the dot to the right of the pavilion roof in the last one.

Cheers, K.

Simon

A super set as always - Nos. 1, 5, 7 & 10 stand out for me, but frankly I'd be really happy with any of them.

Phil

All great, but Damon Hill really stands out. Just for what he's doing and where he's doing it. A photograph that tells a story

And I know Jackie Stewart is a national treasure, but he should have had a hair cut years ago

I'm on the case. Only spotted that after posting - I first thought it was a spec of dust on my laptop screen.

And thanks to all for the positive comments. It's quite hard to get motivated about taking photos at Silverstone, such is the paucity of decent angles/backgrounds compared with other venues, and 500mm plus 2xTC is really the bare minimum requirement if you want to shoot from all around the circuit. I don't imagine Pentax is about to introduce a 500mm f2.8 with three-figure price tag...

I used manual focus with the 1.4 TC fitted - such methodology seems more reliable with moving objects.

Great set to see. I'm homesick!

Best regards

Amazing stuff Simon. I'm green with envy.. So beautifully sharp...

Absolutely amazing.. all of them

Derek

Great set Simon, struggle to pick a favourite. Somewhat envious of the low angles you can get with the cars, (1&3).

It'll be a few days before I get to go through mine since I've got a lot on at the moment, not sure I dare post them after seeing these lol. Managed to get to an autograph signing so hopefully will have a few decent drivers mugshots to post.

Thanks for posting (do you post others elsewhere?)

Regards

George

Thanks for showing your great pictures here which give a very strong taste of the raceway and its atmosphere.

A wonderful set Simon, the Damon Hill one is a particular favourite of mine, but they are all very good.

Regards
David

Excellent set. Can't help thinking that No. 8 would be good for a caption competition...... Damon Hill shot is my favourite.

Regards
Nigel

Thanks again, all.

@George
I might use a few similar shots to illustrate a forthcoming magazine column, but wasn't planning to post on any other photo websites. A couple of my shots have appeared on Twitter, however, and one or two more might follow. Look forward to seeing your photos, as and when.

Were you at the Saturday evening autograph session? If so, we weren't far apart at that stage. Such was the crush by the exit turnstile (where Lewis H was simultaneously sulking and signing photos) that I was unable to escape the paddock for a few minutes...