Sergio Perez's car rises high above the streets of Monaco after crashing during qualifying. Credit: AFP/Jeff Pachoud
They are F1 teams' secret agents, stationed around the circuits on order to provide photos revealing rivals' secrets.
However, amid the teams' desperation to close the gap on the all-conquering Red Bull this year, much is at stake due to the sport's intriguing use of «spy photographers».
Mercedes bosses, for example, could hardly contain their excitement in Spain this week after learning the latest intelligence from the Monaco Grand Prix.
Team photographers, often mistaken by the public for the press, are advised to take positions closer to the scene of likely accidents.
As a result, one of the Mercedes team photographers was in an ideal position to capture the misses of Sergio Pérez during a miserable weekend for the Mexican .
His car was pulled off the street after a qualifying crash, exposing the floor, the most aerodynamically sensitive part of Red Bull's all-conquering car.
Thanks to the ground effect that contributed so much to the dominance of Red Bull, Mercedes will get a lot of valuable close-up shots that evening.
«We have a great selection of Red Bull images and it's always good»
“Photographers are positioned in strategic areas of the track where there is a possibility that the cranes will be activated, and there they click furiously away,” explained team technical director James Ellison. “And then our mailbox subsequently fills up with images of other cars in high resolution .
«We have a great selection of Red Bull images and it's always a good idea for our aerodynamicists to look into them and see if we can highlight details that will be of interest to us in our current testing program.»< /p>
Perhaps because Red Bull is also hiring spotting photographers, Christian Horner is downplaying the situation. “It was kind of like a demonstration and a story by all the teams,” he said. “Everyone was once in the air. It's the same for everyone. Pictures of the floors are taken in and around the paddock… and each team will hire spy photographers to take pictures of the cars as they are taken apart.
«It's common practice, so I wouldn't. I wouldn't thought it was the first time [a picture of the floor was taken], it might be the first time he was hung from a crane, but all teams are always looking for that information.”
Ferrari boss Fred Wasser also agreed that it's hard to hide anything. «I don't want to talk about us, but I think all the teams have thousands of photos of all the other cars,» he said.
Hamilton's car with its upgrades was also taken away by a crane last weekend, so the secrets The Mercedes were also compromised, prompting Toto Wolff to accuse the Marshals of Monaco of giving them away too much.
Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes is lifted with a crane after a bypass during final practice in Monaco. Photo: Getty Images/Eric Alonso
But instead, they have been piecing together Max Verstappen's minor successes this season, which has become a top priority in the paddocks.
McLaren driver Lando Norris said gathering information in racing is becoming increasingly important, although he expressed doubt that the teams will reveal many of the secrets of Red Bull's success just this past weekend.
According to him, this year at Red Bull “it worked out”. “If you ever thought this was one, you lost,” he added. “When you know how much detail they put into each piece. How everything is done, every detail is done… then you fully understand how and why. But actually doing it yourself and knowing how to make the most of it on your car is another story.»
He added that «everyone on the net» has access to similar photos of Mercedes from past weekend. . “You do it all the time you know,” he said. “There are accidents, you see different moments and learn from everyone. In every team on the grid, there is always something that someone thinks about and does well, and so on.
“The look of a car may look simpler than ever. If you look at the sides of the barge, how difficult it was with the front fenders. Now it looks like it's three flaps, but the differences are just as big as before. Now it's all about the details, more so than in previous years.”
With such beautiful fields in mind, photographers will be instructed to be as happy as ever in Spain this weekend.
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