They say there are no atheists in foxholes, but I would say there are no atheist photographers at Montreal’s Wall of Champions. I have never prayed for my safety while shooting a corner at Formula 1; last weekend was different.
After 12 turns around one of the hardest breaking circuits on the calendar, Formula 1 drivers ride the curb at Turn 13 and have to turn an unsettled car away from the wall on the outside exit of Turn 14. The closer they buzz the wall on the outside exit of the turn, the faster the racing line.
In a race where Kimi Antonelli missed out on pole by 0.068 seconds to George Russell, there’s an eternity of pace up for grabs for those brave enough to buzz the wall for every inch. Just ask Michael Schumacher, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve, or Jenson Button, who have all crashed into the wall while looking for a few extra thousandths of a second on lap time.
To test my nerve, I made my way to Turn 14 for Sprint Qualifying. I figured I would sacrifice shooting the pole ceremony at Parc Fermé to have the corner to myself. If anything, the drivers would be keen not to bin their cars into the wall (and by consequence, this photographer) in the middle of the race week.
During Sprint Qualifying, the marshals allowed us to open the escape gate and shoot through it. There’s been nothing more thrilling and terrifying in my motorsport career than shooting Formula 1 cars accelerating while pointed directly at me without the protection of a catch fence. In the last moment, the drivers would turn to scoop every available bit of race pace from the wall while rounding towards the main straight.
For how quiet Formula 1’s V6 turbocharged-hybrid engines are, each close pass was a visceral experience that shook me down to my innards. 130 miles per hour (209km/h) with a soul onboard flying within the length of a pocket ruler with nothing between my face and the car.
Thankfully, nobody crashed into the wall in Sprint Qualifying, and I swore I had my fill with shooting this corner. One small tap of the wall would’ve surely sent carbon fiber debris at high speed towards me. However, the idea of shooting a full-fledged Q3 session, with the top 10 drivers fighting for pole position and crucial championship points, couldn’t escape my curiosity.
I stood at the catch fence during qualifying, continuously cranking up my camera settings to match the increasing speed of qualifying laps. I started at 1/2500th of a second in Q2. By the end of the session, the drivers were pushing harder and harder, and I had to keep increasing the shutter speed to keep up. By Q3, I had to kiss my RAW files goodbye and shoot at 30 frames per second with each frame captured at 1/8000th of a second in JPEG mode.
At 30 frames per second, I’d be lucky to catch the car in-frame for one or two shots while continuously holding down the shutter button. The marshals kept the escape gate closed this time, and I shot, sticking my 14mm ultra-wide-angle lens through a hole in the catch fencing. Max Verstappen made a Q3 push that barely avoided scraping the wall, and a marshal remarked, “Well, that was pretty close, I’ll give him that.”
Verstappen qualified P6, but only 0.721 seconds separated him from the slowest speed in Q3 set by Franco Colapinto in an Alpine. That’s approximately the time it takes to blink twice.
This qualifying session for 2026 saw everyone make it past the wall with their cars intact. I didn’t end the week in heaven, shooting a feature story on the two unlucky groundhogs that didn’t survive the race week. It’s now onto the infamously tight streets of Monte Carlo for the Monaco Grand Prix.
