Check out Formula One’s official drivers’ group photographs.. forty years apart.
The 2026 image, taken this week at pre-season testing in Bahrain, is heavily curated and stylised. The lighting. The spacing. The brand projection. Every driver perfectly placed, perfectly presented. Controlled. Immaculate.
Here, the photographer’s role is closer to David Bailey at a 1960s fashion shoot. The job isn’t simply to record who’s there, but to construct an image.. to project identity, intent and brand.
Now look at the photograph of drivers at the 1986 Adelaide Grand Prix.
Back then, the photographer’s job was almost certainly to capture a moment for history, and probably in a matter of seconds. Get everyone together. Press the shutter. Hope.
The result feels like a small triumph that it happened at all. Hands in pockets. Drivers half-turned. Overalls unzipped. 80s hair doing very 80s things. And smiles.. lots of smiles.
The 2026 image feels like it was made.
The 1986 image feels like it happened.
I suspect a Mansell, Rosberg, Piquet or Brundle would look back at that ’86 photo today and smile at the memory it represents. I’m less sure the 2026 drivers will feel the same in forty years’ time.
Andrew Greenhalgh 