On the Saturday in the Ardennes, photographer Peter van Egmond received a very friendly look from Max Verstappen but soon understood how and why. That the warm look was not meant for him.
This year I followed the qualification at Spa-Francorchamps in the pitlane. Max Verstappen often stands leaning against the workbench chatting with his engineer. For a change, I wanted to try a different composition, with his helmet in the foreground, his engineers in the background and the focus on his face. And then suddenly he was looking very kindly in my direction, just not straight into the lens. He started smiling, his gaze was very warm and when I looked over my shoulder, I understood why. I never get these looks from him! So his mother Sophie was standing behind me and wanted to wish Max good luck. I took the photo at the moment of their eye contact, it couldn’t have been more perfect.