The San Marino Grand Prix is a home race for me — twenty minutes from base, yet a completely different world once the paddock gates open on Thursday morning. This is the story of a full race weekend, from setup to the podium.
Friday is about access and preparation: walking the circuit, finding the corners where the light will fall in the late afternoon, building relationships with the marshals who decide how close you can get.
The Decisive Corner
Every circuit has one corner that tells the story of the race. At Misano it is the Curvone — flat out, bikes dancing on the edge of grip. I spent the entire qualifying session there, waiting for the moment when rider, machine and light aligned.
Race day is a different discipline: you get one chance at every moment. No second laps, no second podiums. The preparation of the previous two days is what makes the difference between documenting and storytelling.
Beyond the Track
The race is only half the story. The other half lives in the garages, on the pit wall, in the faces of the mechanics during the final laps. These are the images that clients come back for — the ones nobody else was positioned to take.