Although it is the F1 drivers who put on a show for the fans week in and week out, several people are involved in making the sport a success. One such group of people are photographers, who attempt to take the best shots of the drivers and the cars they drive.
However, when asked what sells more between the two, veteran journalist Kym Illman replied that it is definitely the drivers who help people like him get most of their views and likes. “I don’t know what my style is, I know what I focus on and that is people,” was Illman’s reply on The MotorMouth Podcast when asked if he has any particular style for his photography or whether some other photographer inspires him.
He further added, “If you have a look at my Instagram page and I am just about to tick over 600,000 followers, you will barely see a car. Occasionally, I will put up a car pick but quite frankly, until it is upside down or in a fence, people do not want to see it.”
Giving the example of Charles Leclerc and his girlfriend, Alexandra Saint Mleux, Illman further explained how it is their pictures that will attract far more attention than whichever images of cars he releases.
“I could put up a picture of a beautiful, classy car shot, or I could put up a picture of Charles and his girlfriend, and Charles and his girlfriend is going to kill it every single time”, Illman added.
Giving what people like has helped Illman achieve more success
Illman is one of the top F1 photographers today and he follows a simple strategy that involves “giving people what they like”. He revealed on the podcast that it is much easier to understand what people like today because on social media platforms such as Instagram, one can track exactly how many views their posts received.
Giving a couple of examples of posts that received the most likes, he revealed that one was a picture that Ferrari sent out of Lewis Hamilton for general use, a post that helped him receive over 270,000 likes. Meanwhile, the second was of Daniel Ricciardo leaving the Singapore GP track.
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Illman made it clear that although he did not take any of these pictures, they helped him get the most traction on social media. Both pictures that Illman revealed were iconic moments. Hamilton’s move to Ferrari was the most anticipated move ever since he announced his decision to join the Italian outfit at the beginning of last year.
Meanwhile, considering that RB sacked Ricciardo, one of F1’s most popular drivers, after the Singapore GP weekend, that post was undoubtedly to receive immense traction. The Australian’s popularity skyrocketed thanks to Netflix’s Drive to Survive (DTS) docu-series.
Drive to Survive focused heavily on drivers’ personal lives
Although most racing fans watch sports such as F1 for the action on the track, DTS provides a glimpse of the human side. Documenting the personal lives of the people involved in F1, drivers and team principals became hugely popular ever since the series was first introduced in 2019.
This could also be a reason why photos of drivers sell far more than those of cars. Fans are keen on tracking the lives of drivers when they are not racing — where they go for vacations, where they eat, and what they do in their free time.
These are the kind of shots that today’s fans are most interested in. And as the drivers receive more attention because of DTS, so does the sport as a whole. Per a 2023 report, more than 50% of fans in the United States admitted they began watching F1 because of DTS.
