Photos of Petronas Malaysian Formula 1 Grand Prix 2009 at Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia – Part 1

Salam and hello all. As I have promised before in my previous entry, I’ll share some of pictures that I have taken during Petronas Malaysian Formula 1 Grand Prix 2009 that was held at Sepang International Circuit last weekend. As I said in my previous entry, I went there with one of my housemate and another two friends of my housemate but we had separated during the traffic congestion on the way to SIC. So, me and my friend is one group and another two is one group. However, all of us have bought same section of ticket which is at Hillstand C2 but due to so many people there, we can’t find each other.

Stop till there, even though we only had to pay for a very low price of Formula 1 ticket but for parking, we didn’t get any discount. Hohoho, without any exception, we have to pay another RM50 for the parking which for me, I could say, it was not a proper parking and it wasn’t worth to pay RM50 for this kind of parking. Quite ridiculous price for me. Last time, when we went to SIC for Moto GP, we only have to pay RM5 for the parking but for Formula 1, it was 10 times higher! But, whatever it is, we have to pay for it finally since, if we didn’t pay, we have to park outside SIC and have to walk more than 1km to SIC. Who wants to do this under the hot sun?! What makes this ticket quite not worth for us is because the parking we have paid is valid for 2 days, which are qualifying and race day. But, we only come during the race day and do you think we should get half price of the parking fee? RM25 instead of RM50? LOL..

I think I have gone to far from the purpose of this entry. Ok, I won’t talk much, here we go. These are the pictures that I have taken during the event. Please proceed your reading and be patient while waiting the pictures to be loaded completely since there are a lot of pictures inside. Enjoy the pictures ya.

Here we are, Hillstand C2 Sepang International Circuit! Last time, when we were here for Moto GP, we were at Main Grandstand but for this Formula 1, we think we need to change the spot. Hehehe.

Fans of Ferrari’s Team. I saw many of Ferrari’s fans bring this flag. Hoho. I wonder where they got it.

We have arrived there a little bit early, hence to kill the time, I have taken some candid shots of the fans and those who came to watch this race. Enjoy!

He might be one of Kimi Raikkonen’s fans. (I mean, of course he is..hehehe)

It was very hot at SIC, make sure you drink a lot of water to avoid you from dehydration. But, one bottle of drinking water cost you RM2 and you’re not allowed to bring any outside foods and drinks but allowed to buy the foods and drinks that were sold inside the SIC. What kind of rule is this? Lol..

Ok, the race has started with some warm-up session for all the racers. Here are some typical shots of Formula 1 cars from me. More to come in part 2.

First attempt on panning shot! Not bad, huh?! Considering I’m using prosumer camera which lack of AF (Auto Focus) setting to take this kind of shot, I think this was a nice result. To take this kind of shot, you need to set your camera AF into AF-C, means continuous auto focus that will lock the focus on the car and continuously follow it. Hence, it would be much more easier to get panning shot if your camera have this setting. But, my camera is otherwise. Huhu. Another thing is you need to put your camera into Shutter Priority mode and luckily, my camera have it.

The only solution for me to take this kind of shot using my prosumer camera is to keep following the Formula 1 cars, so my camera focus will follow the cars too. But, it was really hard to do due to the speed of the cars. After hundreds of shots, only several shots have come out with good result. Moral of the story, panning shot needs more practice and off course, more advance gear.

Here are some more pictures.

Ok, I’ll stop here for now. More photos to come in part 2 so, stay tuned ya! Hope you don’t mind waiting, okay? By the way, any comments and feedback are really appreciated and welcomed. Thanks.

p/s: Candid pictures were shot in Aperture Priority mode whereas the Formula 1 cars were shot in Shutter Priority mode. All pictures were shot with Olympus SP550uz.