Peter van Egmond, who passed away on January 2, spoke a year ago in a two-part interview on Formule1.nl about his future, his career, and shared experiences and anecdotes in an impressive monologue. Please note: at the time of the conversation, his debilitating illness was not yet known, so it was not discussed in the monologue.
The Early Years
“The Grand Prix in Zandvoort in 1985 was my first Formula 1 race. I was working for Autovisie, and I just walked around the dunes. It was a one-off. But in 1989, Autovisie’s regular photographer who followed the entire Formula 1 season started working independently. I asked if I could take over from him. They weren’t really keen on the idea, but I kept insisting.
In 1989, Autovisie accredited me for the GP in Belgium. All I heard was that they had an interview with Nigel Mansell and wanted a nice portrait of him. So, I had to arrange a meeting with Mansell, not my strong suit, whom I only knew from television. When I approached him, he asked, ‘Yes, what do you want’? I said, ‘I need to take a photo of you for a Dutch magazine’. ‘Okay, come back in fifteen minutes,’ Mansell replied. I thought: I’ll never see him again. But after fifteen minutes, he came walking up. So, that was a nice introduction to F1, you could say. Somehow, I felt comfortable in the paddock from the very beginning. Of course, I respect those drivers, but I never saw them as some kind of God or something.
In 1992, I made my first overseas Grand Prix with Rob Wiedenhoff (former F1 reporter, ed) to Japan, where Jan Lammers returned to F1. But at some point, things started to decline with Autovisie, luckily I had managed to get some other clients by then.
At that time, you were still paid reasonably well for photos. And I had another job as a quality engineer at Brooks, an American company. Something completely different from photography. On Thursday morning, I would get in the car with my suitcase and go to work, and clock out at four o’clock. My colleagues would then go to the mashed potatoes, I would go to Schiphol for the Grand Prix in Italy. I usually flew back on Sunday night after races, and on Monday morning, I was back at Brooks. I quite liked that combination. Maybe I should have had the ambition to start working for myself earlier. But I was too scared, didn’t want to throw away the security I had. So those were the early years. And then, of course, I was lucky that Max Verstappen started driving Formula 1.”
Verstappen I
“When Jos entered Formula 1 in 1994, photography was more or less my main job. I was already traveling quite a bit and also worked at Brooks due to the steady salary. But Formula 1 also had to generate income, otherwise, I couldn’t do it. I used to watch the championship: if it was decided, I wouldn’t go anymore. It was no longer just a hobby, you understand? I really needed to put bread on the table, and that worked out reasonably well.
Especially the print media really picked up on Jos when he entered Formula 1. That was good for me: the more interest there is, the more income you have. What’s strange now is that despite Max Verstappen’s great success, I sell fewer images of him than of Jos. And that’s because the big photo agencies photograph him more and most media have contracts with those agencies. And that can sometimes be quite frustrating.
The early days with Jos were a very beautiful time. I also did a lot for Panorama, together with editor Pieter Groenewold. They were always very happy with my photos. If I came up with ideas, it was almost always good. That’s how I put myself more on the market. I had switched to slides at the time. And you can’t develop those on the circuit. The exciting thing is that you only know four days later if you’ve done it right. Actually, I found that the most enjoyable period in terms of photography. Because you were just photographing all weekend. And you had more time: at the end of the day, you weren’t sitting behind that damn computer for another four hours to select and edit images. When it was done, it was done.”
The Turning Point
“After Christijan Albers had to leave Formula 1, the turning point came a few years later. The thought: I have to find other work, because I can’t live off this anymore, I can’t support my family. I was approaching 50, really on the verge of collapsing. It was the time of the financial crisis. Many photographers stopped during that period.
One, two years before that crisis, you could already see that the internet was emerging, more and more advertisers were pulling the plug on print in favor of online. And then it’s very simple: no advertisers, no budget, no Dutchman in Formula 1, no photos. I did eat into my reserves then. That was a big gamble, but at a certain point, it really couldn’t go on anymore. I thought: this is quite pointless, because it only costs money. You haven’t actually earned anything, but you’ve left your family alone all year.”
Companionship
Then came McLaren. That was my salvation. An English colleague introduced me to that team. I had gotten to know a group of English photographers, got along well with them. At that time, we had to pay top dollar at all circuits for the use of five days of internet to send the digital image. Sometimes that cost up to €1000 per weekend. Those Englishmen always sat together, I was more there for the companionship.
Many of these guys worked for newspapers, always in a rush to send images. They used a splitter to share internet costs. I was never in a hurry, and at one point, I asked if I could join them and use the line when they didn’t need it. “You always go first,” I said. This also saved them some costs. That’s how my collaboration with the English started.
One of these colleagues, whom I had helped before, worked for Mercedes, Toyota, and McLaren. He could sign a new contract with Mercedes, but he had to work exclusively for them. Toyota had left the sport, and he told McLaren: I can no longer work for you because I’m signing with the star. But I might have an alternative. That was me. And the rest is history.
In retrospect, it may have been my luck that I stayed in the sport longer than was wise at certain times. McLaren was a turning point; it was my salvation. In the beginning, I didn’t earn much, but over time I was better financially appreciated and I worked there with great pleasure for eight years.
FC Orange
“Almost all photographers’ attention is now focused on Max Verstappen. Everyone takes pictures of him because he is a top driver, the world champion. Just like Schumacher and Senna were in the past. Almost no one is interested in the stragglers. I once asked an English colleague: can you take a picture of Christijan Albers for me? Yes. What color is his car? If a straggler crashed into his lens in the guardrails, he would take a picture. But otherwise? What’s the point of photographing everyone if it doesn’t yield anything and only costs time?
It was good for me that Jos started racing in Formula 1. I would have wished him more success in terms of results. When Jos quit, we got Christijan Albers and Robert Doornbos. The years with Christijan were perhaps the most beautiful. I did everything for him: photography for press releases, his website… Chris drove for a small team, it was very friendly and very accessible.
I was also the team photographer at Spyker, so besides McLaren and Red Bull, I’ve worked for three F1 teams. When Chris had to leave Spyker, a big void was left. No one was interested in Formula 1 anymore. If you mentioned the word Formula 1, everyone thought: what kind of idiot is that? Now it has completely turned around and we have 17 million experts, young and old. We also had Giedo (Van der Garde). That’s right. Sorry, Giedo. I had forgotten about that. I also worked for him and his sponsor, McGregor.”
Mike Gascoyne
“I could hardly do anything at Giedo’s team, Caterham, mainly due to Mike Gascoyne, the technical director. I’ve never had problems with anyone in Formula 1, except for one man. Mike Gascoyne. What a jerk he was. He was literally working against me. I knew him a bit, but when he started working with Christijan at Spyker, I really got to know Gascoyne. And I had the impression, but this is purely my opinion, that he saw anyone who wasn’t from England as some kind of intruder. I also found him quite disrespectful, especially towards Michiel Mol (owner of Spyker F1).
Gascoyne was a dreamer. We didn’t get along and he started paying more and more attention to me. I was promoted by Mol, but after Spyker’s takeover, there was still an English photographer with the team. But if I did the same as that guy, I got a scolding. Then Gascoyne would be at the pit wall with his headphones on and I would get a tap on my shoulder in the garage. ‘You’re annoying Mike’, I was told. Man, make that car go faster. But no, Mr. Gascoyne is sitting reversed at the pit wall to see what I’m doing. Then I thought: this is very personal. So, I was no longer allowed in the garage.
I started to annoy him then. In the garage, there was a red line, which you were not allowed to cross. I deliberately stood against the red line and occasionally just over it. It was that pathetic. Then I already knew: ‘You’re annoying Mike’. At some point, it just became a game to irritate each other. I went to Michiel to say that I couldn’t work like this. But I had the feeling that Michiel didn’t really dare to stand up to him. I just thought Gascoyne was a jerk. A few years later, I ran into him again at Caterham, where Giedo was racing. It was quickly back to square one. I thought: we need to talk this out, because I don’t want the same nonsense.
At some point, there were rumors that Gascoyne was filling his pockets tremendously. That he was having his sailboat repaired at the team’s expense. I had the feeling that he was only there for himself and didn’t give a damn about the team. Suddenly, Gascoyne was gone. So I asked Abiteboul (team boss Caterham): where is Mike? He said: he’s on his sailboat. And he should just stay there. Well, I thought, they’ve had a nice farewell. But otherwise, I’ve never had any trouble with anyone.”
Finish and Health
“If this becomes my last season in Formula 1 and I make it to the finish line, I’ll be almost 69. Life as an F1 photographer is extremely tough. I don’t think anyone realizes how hard it is to do 23 or 24 Grands Prix in a year. I’m feeling it now, but that also has to do with getting older. That when you’re tired, you need more recovery time. But the annoying thing is that there are only more Grands Prix being added. So there is less rather than more time to recover. But every weekend, you’re expected to perform, whether you’re a mechanic or a photographer.
At the end of last year, I was really off the rails. I did those last two GPs in Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi on some kind of autopilot. Las Vegas was terrible. You’re only there for five days, have a nine-hour time difference, then you go home afterwards and a day later to Abu Dhabi. Another six hours of flying and three hours the other way. Of course, you hope you sleep decently. But if you don’t sleep well, you still have to get up and do your job.”
You could just see that everyone was struggling in Abu Dhabi. I asked one of the Red Bull guys who lifts the tires: how many kilos do you lift in a weekend? He said: I just want to die, leave me alone. Sometimes it still amazes me that I can keep up. But I’m not done with the sport yet, I still get satisfaction from my work. However, this could be my last year in Formula 1.
Knee Problems
I’ve had a lot of problems with my knees. I’ve fallen a few times, that’s why. In Hungary, I slid down a hill, I was sitting on my lower leg, so to speak. Normally, I would never get my leg in this position. So there was friction and in addition, my upper and outer skin just burned. That hurt a lot, my knee too. But that pain went away much sooner than the pain from the burns.
So I never went to the doctor. I didn’t feel anything. I thought it would be fine. Put a plaster on it and carry on. But years later I started to feel more and more pain. During an arthroscopy, it turned out that everything was in ruins. Meniscus broken, anterior cruciate ligament off and cartilage torn. ‘Did you know your cruciate ligament was off?’, the orthopedist asked. ‘That thing broke off years ago’.
And a year later: my left leg. Exactly the same story. At the Grand Prix of Canada, I made a very small jump from the pit wall. And then I felt it.
Indianapolis followed. I had rented a canoe near Mont-Tremblant with an English colleague. My leg had become very swollen. There I was in that canoe. I couldn’t do anything, but I kept going. I don’t know how I survived Indianapolis. A French photographer started to walk very strangely whenever he saw me. I didn’t understand it.
Love for Work and Sport
At one point I asked why he always acted so weird towards me? He said: I’m just imitating you. I hadn’t realized that I was getting more and more bow-legged, because I was ruining everything. Sometimes I couldn’t sleep from the pain, sometimes I just couldn’t walk. I was actually just an idiot.
In 2014, I was in Germany for a Formula 3 race of Max Verstappen. I remember that I was really struggling with myself there. And thought: it’s over with Peter. I was hobbling from place to place, only in pain. So I went back to the orthopedist, I had a new one. He told me what the problem was and said: I’m going to saw your legs. I thought: he’s crazy. I had three second opinions, but all the doctors said the same. Whole days with all those cameras around your neck has taken its toll. It’s better now that my legs have been straightened. In the end, the love for the work and the sport prevails. That is, of course also to earn money, the only reason you do it.
