Lando & Max in the Rain at Spa

Celebrating Lando Norris becoming World Champion feels like the perfect moment to share one of my favourite images from last year at Spa-Francorchamps — a day when the world was nothing but rain, engines, and raw speed.

I was standing along the straight just after the start line, where the cars rocket past with that mix of mechanical force and almost biological reflex — the kind of speed you don’t just see, but feel. It was pouring, the kind of Belgian rain that sneaks into every opening, so I was very thankful I’d invested in a proper rain cover for my gear. My setup that day was the Canon 7D Mark II paired with the Sigma 100–400mm, shooting with a slightly slower shutter speed and tracking each car to capture that sense of motion instead of freezing it lifeless. A technique that’s easy to miss… but so rewarding when it works.

The physics behind it is simple but beautiful: by allowing motion blur perpendicular to your tracking direction, the sensor records velocity itself — almost like drawing with light and momentum. And that felt fitting for Spa, a place where nature, danger, and engineering always seem to collide.

And because Max Verstappen came back with such strength in the second half of the season, I’ve added a shot of him as well — also taken in the rain. Two champions in their own way, two stories in one storm.

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