All In A Good Cause
New book features pictures taken by F1 personalities
Apologies for being slightly late getting on to this one, but the publishers had run short of review copies and it finally thudded onto the doormat shortly before Christmas.
The concept of Zoom: Through the Eyes of Formula 1 will make the eyes of anyone involved in the media side of the sport water. The authors, Christian Sylt and Caroline Reid (yes, they really do exist and I’ve seen them both in the same room at the same time), persuaded drivers and team principals from every F1 team to take a photo of their chosen subject and the results are published here. Having had to push through many give-a-driver-a-camera feature through over the years I can testify that it’s easier to herd cats. Well done the authors for making it happen.
As you might expect the drivers’ pictures vary in subject and effort, but the less imaginative ones (grid shot? Slap on the wrist for Mr Di Resta) are far outnumbered by the interesting and often bizarre images submitted by other F1 personalities including Bernie Ecclestone himself. In fact, ‘the Bolt’ supplies two shots, one of which is of a pair of statues from his house in Switzerland (“I can’t remember where they came from but I like them a lot”). Red Bull design guru Adrian Newey’s is of an Indian tractor.
The original images were auctioned by Coy’s in September and the proceeds went to the Great Ormond Street Hospital Childrens Charity. Michael Schumacher’s photograph alone raised £2500. The book retails at £20.