F1 Fanatic reader Sunny sent in these brilliant pictures from the Italian Grand Prix weekend.
Among the moments of action he captured were Sebastien Buemi and Lewis Hamilton’s run-in in qualifying, plus both BMWs stopping with engine failures.
Have a look at Sunny’s collection below and read his thoughts on the Monza weekend:
I arrived late Thursday so I missed the opportunity for the pit-walk and meet the drivers for autographs and such. But on the Friday I met a few English people, who had tickets at Ascari – so we wondered around the track as it’s free for all.
We checked out Ascari, wandered from there across the back straight to Parabolica grandstands which were great for pictures as you could get right up top on the far side and take pictures without the fencing in the way.
From there we went across the old banked track and back around the grandstands then under the track to Rettifilo (where my tickets were) and chilled out. It is really worth checking out the entire track while you can on the Friday just so you know where you should be buying tickets for next year.
Some of the pictures you can see where Heidfeld’s car died just past the chicane, then literally minutes later Kubica pulled up right infront of us, with another failure.
All in all the whole atmosphere of the place was amazing – there was no hatred like you would have expected like a football match for any of the teams, or drivers which was really nice. As I’m Indian, everyone seemed to think I was there for/with Force India which was fairly comical as people wanted to have pictures with me to say they met someone from Force India.
Everyone was supporting Force India there, when Sutil hit out the pole lap everyone was cheering, beeping their air-horns to congratulate Sutil and the team, even when Hamilton snatched it away – there was still more cheer, even though everyone around me was wearing a Ferrari shirt or cap or flags.
The same for the race, unfortunately I was too busy watching the race to get as many pictures, but I witnessed the start of the whole Trulli/Glock stand off on the first chicane and watched the big screen opposite me until one of them was muscled off the track, which was really good competitive team racing there.
If anyone is thinking of going to Monza, I’d recommend it – everything is signed very well, there weren’t that many queues for goods, as there were so many stalls around the track everyone had a good chance of getting something in good time. It doesn’t matter which team or driver you support either, everyone is there for all the teams/drivers at heart and the Italians were extremely helpful, especially the ones who knew English as they would teach you how to say certain things (eg, if you wanted food they would translate for you to help you out what is what).
Italian Grand Prix pictures by Sunny
Did you got to the Italian Grand Prix? If so please tell us about it here: Autodromo Nazionale Monza ?ǣ spectators? experiences
Here are some more pictures taken by F1 Fanatic readers this year:
- Snoopy’s pictures from the Australian Grand Prix
- Guio Oblepias’s pictures from the Malaysian Grand Prix
- Tommy B’s pictures from the Belgian Grand Prix
If you’d like to share any pictures you’ve taken at races or other F1 events please upload them to the F1 Fanatic drop.io.
And here are some more pictures from the Italian Grand Prix:
C4
18th September 2009, 7:16
Good to know the fans are welcoming. I went to a Nascar race and some fans will immediately inform you of their distaste for your team/driver. Anyway, looks like a great place to watch the race live. Great to hear from someone who was actually there, unlike here in the USA where our commentators are watching it on TV just like I am.
The_Pope
18th September 2009, 7:58
Nice shots!
@Sunny – For the camera geeks among us, can you provide more detail of how you took these? i.e. lens, focal length, shutter etc Are they cropped to enlarge the action, or at these full-frame resized? :)
I’ll be at the Australian GP in Melbourne in March, and want to try out my new Sigma 150-500mm :D
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
18th September 2009, 8:37
Looking forward to seeing them :-)
HounslowBusGarage
18th September 2009, 8:22
Nice pics, Sunny. And it sounds as though you had a great time. How much was the ticket overall?
ajokay
18th September 2009, 9:40
You can see Lewis raising his hand and acknowledging his error in persuading Buemi to use the escape road. Very nice photos! The one of Rubens and Jenson at the end is a keeper!
hamz0rs
18th September 2009, 9:41
I was in the Parabolica Laterale grandstand, and when Hamilton was interviewed during the drivers parade I couldn’t hear anything because everyone was booeing. Then on the last lap of the race, when Hamilton crashed and they showed on the screen, basically my whole grandstand was laughing and cheering. It felt very pathetic.
I am italian by the way, and this attitude was even worse than I expected.
I was at Spa and then at Monza. Transportwise Monza is better, more hassle-free, better public transportation but when you get to the track I had to withstand much longer queues to enter the circuit.
On the fun side, look what italian people do just to try to have a better view than others; those are logs they have stuck themselves in the fence, and then bound together the barbed wire to have a clearer view. This was nearly three hours before the start of the race.
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/4700/dsc03558th.jpg
Sunny
18th September 2009, 10:49
I got no idea with cameras, the camera itself is a Canon EOS 400d with a Tamron 70-300mm lense, I just went straight out paparazzi mode (sport shot) and kept my finger down as the cars went by.
From the looks they are full-frame just resized…
is the full sized image of one.
The tickets, without having the tickets at hand at work I can’t remember exactly for the Friday/Saturday but the Sunday was €200 for 6B grandstand
James Bolton
18th September 2009, 11:40
Excellent shots!
I’m (hopefully) going to Monza next year. Where is the best place to sit? Are there any grandstands I should avoid?
Joe Garnett
18th September 2009, 13:46
Those photos are excellent! I’d struggle to get the car in the shot!
Marcus
18th September 2009, 13:59
your lucky… atleast the drivers bothered to go round the track once they finished unlike Spa-Francorchamps just going to the pits Ferrari fans were booing at Pouhon corner wanting to cheer the drivers.
Pablo
18th September 2009, 14:21
How do I upload some pictures , I have pretty good ones from Monza
Dorian
19th September 2009, 12:01
Nice photos Sunny
I was at Monza too and all my photos were rubbish…….with the exception of a few good ones of me drinking various types of beer :-)
kaka
20th September 2009, 14:45
Great answer Dorian and a nice relief to hear someone else take rubbish pictures too…your not the only one..Mine last year were also pants
Buttonham
20th September 2009, 17:43
As a photographer I wish it was easier to capture better shots of the action. That grandstand at the first variant is ideal really as there is a little gap in the catch fencing that allows an un-interrupted view of the action, it would appear that you’ve shot from that exact position. I was there on friday, but you get some well arsey people with little compacts that moan when you rock up with a DSLR and 70-200 and want to take a few shots. I’ve given up on trying to take shots of cars now and instead just try and capture the essence of the event with fans etc.
Sunny
20th September 2009, 21:28
Those photos look sweet! Luckily I’ve got a fairly small DSLR/lens so I didn’t get in anyone’s way… But I did see someone rocking something pretty huge and it upset a few of the Finnish people around me, as the lens was right in their view/face.
Did you manage to get through to the inside of Parabolica (just past the little yellow kart podium)? I wish I was there during the F1 practices, I went through there during the GP2…
Buttonham
20th September 2009, 22:31
I’ve never really ventured up to Parabolica apart from walking around the track last year. First Variant is THE place to watch the action; this year we had general admission and camped out from 2 in the morning at the Second Variant – there was an awesome party going on, absolutely hedonistic, didn’t get any sleep, and managed to catch some kip during the Porsche Cup. Seriously dull event… Love the F BMW and GP2, can’t get into the PC though.
Sunny, you look like you’ve got pretty good camera control though. You should come along to some junior events like Formula Ford British Formula Three etc. It’s not hugely difficult to get press and its great being trackside. In fact, I’m sure Keith would love to have someone taking some pics for the website and as you need to have a reputable name for the accreditation procedure it could be just the ticket.
Jameyprice
11th August 2010, 21:54
Hi Sunny,
Im heading to Monza with GA tickets this year. I appreciate your comments! So where do you recommend to watch the race from with GA tickets?