When the official photo was introduced in 2012, it featured around twenty of the most representative cars. Today, the entire field lines up on the track in a precise configuration. Pauline Morvan, ACO Communication Officer, and Jeff Carter, her FIA counterpart, control the operations: “Forward, forward, forward… Stop! Another 10 centimetres to the right. OK for number 31.” It takes nearly sixty minutes to get the whole grid perfectly in place.

“They’re facing the wrong way – we need to turn them round!” jokes an Alpine mechanic.“It’s actually true. The cars do race in the other direction,” an ACO marshal agrees. “But it’s the only way to have them all behind the starting line and in the same view from the grandstands.” Logical really.

It’s time to clear the track. From this point, the cars – and only the cars – shall appear in the camera field. The responsibility for this year’s photo now lies firmly in the hands of one man: Eric Gilbert. As he prepared to rise to a height of 15 metres in a cherrypicker, are there any signs of trembling hands? “No, the photo itself is not technically challenging.” Gilbert is as cool as a cucumber. “A successful shot depends more on the weather than on my skill. Fortunately, we’ve avoided the rain for the fifth consecutive year!”

A few minutes later, when he came back down to earth, this year’s lucky photographer was thrilled with the experience. “I’ve just taken the most expensive photo in the world!” he exclaimed. “Can you imagine the total cost of these sixty cars?” Regardless of their value, these machines are built to race and face the worst conditions. As they will show tomorrow and especially on 18–19 June.