Formula Istanbul — Istanbul, Turkey · 2009 & 2011

I photographed Formula 1 at Istanbul Park in 2009 and again in 2011. The circuit had entered the Formula 1 calendar in 2005, and by 2011 the Turkish Grand Prix was being held for the seventh time. That year the race was the fourth round of the season and the first European Grand Prix on the calendar.

For me, the attraction was not simply the speed of the cars. A Formula 1 weekend is built from movement, sound, concentration and very short moments that disappear almost as soon as they occur. From the grandstands and the trackside areas, I tried to follow this rhythm photographically: the cars entering and leaving a frame in fractions of a second, the tension of competition, and the scale of the circuit against the surrounding landscape.

Looking back at these photographs, they also record a particular period in Istanbul's recent sporting history. Istanbul Park brought one of the world's most technologically advanced sports to the outskirts of the city, creating an unusual meeting between an international racing culture and the rapidly changing landscape around Istanbul.