With shooting F1 last year for the first time I had no idea what I was in for. This year for the F1 Miami Grand Prix, I knew what to expect and the places and positions I wanted to be in. It was also a bit chaotic in the paddock with Max Verstappen’s girlfriend having their first child, Christian Horner on the rumored hot seat and Lewis Hamilton’s early struggles with his switch to Ferrari. But with F1, nothing ever goes as planned and this year was definitely not like last year at all.
Miami Grand Prix Media Day
This year was my first time covering the media day portion of the F1 Miami Grand Prix. I was able to photograph the drivers and team principals giving various interviews throughout the morning to a wide host of media. Some drivers were grouped together then they went off and did individual interviews with various international media covering a plethora of racing and non-racing topics.
Media Day is also when there is a lot of collaborations of athletes and celebrities with the drivers. The Miami Dolphins players were out with the drivers having a field goal kicking competition as well as meeting with other drivers and teams.
For me, Media Day was running from the Paddock to interviews to back to the Paddock for more interviews and trying to catch the drivers and team principals by the garage area.
Oh and don’t forget to catch all the celebrities.
I knew some of the celebrities at media day. The problem is that there were a lot of European celebs and artists I knew nothing of. I took photos and then I would have to ask an international photographer if they could name them for me. On the flip side I was able to name hiphop artists and local celebs to the international media so it worked out we helped each other out.
Miami Grand Prix Sprint Race
Miami in the summer, which typically starts in March (it feels like), usually means rain. For last year’s race it was sunny and dry; this year was different. I’m talking torrential downpours. Blinding rain. Thankfully I had rain gear; others weren’t so lucky.
I had Grid access for the Sprint race which mean I could be on the grid prior to the start of the race. Problem was it was pouring and I probably wouldn’t get any good photos. So I was back in the garage and got stuck by the McLaren garage just before the two cars of Piastri and Norris were to go out to the grid. I was pretty cool to be right next to the cars as they exit the garage and even cooler to see the rain spin off their tires as they headed down pit lane.
Even as the drivers did their warmup laps it was pouring. Charles Leclerc slammed into the wall during the warmup last and was out of the race before it even began. I was up in the photographer’s stand at turn 1 and I was hoping that when they restarted the race because the rain was so bad that they wouldn’t have a rolling start.
Thankfully they had a traditional restart where everyone is at a standstill then all take off at once. As the driver headed down to turn 1 it was crazy seeing all the rain spray behind the cars. It was basically acting like fog and I couldn’t see the cars behind it. It definitely made for some dramatic photos.
I photographed a few laps before I headed to the FIA garage to get access to the post race trophy presentation. Now when it comes to anything post race with F1, be prepared to run and be bumped. It’s every person for themselves to get to the front. It’s all a guessing game because we never know where anything will happen and it’s just a crapshoot.
Speaking of a crapshoot, I didn’t get anything worth while. I was in the wrong position and once I saw where things were going to be finally, it was too late.
Miami Grand Prix
The big day started with down pours. I was thinking that the race was going to be like the start of the Sprint race, but luckily for us it wasn’t. I didn’t have grid access so I was trying to find celebrities through the fence on the side of the grid. On race day, besides the race, the big focus are the big celebrities on the grid. And when you work for a wire service, photos that sell are definitely ones with celebs.
Like last year, I was working with the staff photographers from the Miami Herald. I know them well and we all get along so it was fun to exchange ideas as to where we should position ourselves. For this year’s Grand Prix we devised a plan that we would start in turn 1 and work our way back around the track to get to the FIA garage with about 20 laps left to get on the Parc Ferme to photograph the winner getting out of the car and then rush to the shuttles to take us to the stand to photograph the trophy celebration.
Remember what I said that nothing in F1 goes as planned? Well as we were in the stand at turn 1, the Miami Herald photographer dropped his memory card down through the boards of the stand. That card had photos from the Grid prior to the race which had all the celebs on it. So he had to go look for the card as the race was going on. I made the choice to to leave him as he looked for it and photograph the race from turns 2 through about turn 5. Once I got to turn 5 I could either continue and make my way to the podium or circle back and try to go back to the original plan.
Well, I went back to plan A and ran into the Miami Herald photographer out by the start/finish line. We made our way back and shot from several positions along the way.
So we make it to the FIA garage and there were people already there waiting. No problem we tried to assemble in a first come basis, but as more people came it turned into bedlam. There was this one photographer sitting on the ground by the ropes to let us in; he was one of the original people there. We mentioned it might make sense for him to stand in case they opened up he had to get up faster. Sure enough he stayed sitting and when the ropes were taken down it was a mad rush for the tiny door into the garage. I felt bad he was still sitting there after waiting so long, but I jumped over him and pushed my way in.
I ran for the pit wall hoping to get an overhead shot of the eventual winner, Oscar Piastri. Some people shot from the roped off front area, but when the teams started to arrive to greet their drivers it didn’t look like a great place to be.
I lucked out as Piastri’s team right below me so when he got out of the car he jumped into their waiting arms and right into my frame. I couldn’t have been luckier.
Now the fun part; the 100 yard dash or so from the garage to the shuttles to take us to the podium. Imagine running with thousands of dollars of camera gear, doing the 5 D’s of dodgeball: duck, dodge, dip, dive and dodge with all other photographers and fans. I’m running past celebrities and former athletes and I’m just shooting and running. Ran all the way up ramps and stairs and got to the podium celebrations on time.
My shins were on fire. I might need to stretch better next year for the 2026 F1 Miami Grand Prix. I’m not as young as I think I am.
Like last year, I had an amazing time photographing the F1 Miami Grand Prix. I really want to photograph F1 at both COTA and Las Vegas next. The dream is Monaco. One day.
Click on my F1 Racing Photos to see all the photos from the 2025 F1 Miami Grand Prix. Also check out my Instagram page for additional content.
