Bernard Cahier and Paul-Henri Cahier, father and son: an authentic eye and a penetrating eye. From generation to generation and style to style, this book presents a family tradition that captured the brilliance behind the legends of speed.

Bernard Cahier has left his mark on grand prix racing through his captivating portraits of Formula One drivers. It all began in 1952 with a simple Leica camera and an authentic eye for capturing images of this noble but dangerous sport.

Naturally, his son, Paul-Henri Cahier, found his own calling in photography. Since his earliest years, the younger Cahier has been drawn to the siren song of roaring Formula One engines. By age fourteen he was taking his own pictures and treading the same paddocks and pit areas that his father knew so well. Over his extensive career, Paul-Henri has approached Formula One photography as an artistic exploration. His eloquent images capture the essence of the pinnacle of motorsport.

Twenty years of covering Formula One brought Xavier Chimits into close acquaintance with the Cahiers. This book is born from that friendship. The former editor-in-chief of L’Automobile Magazine, Chimits has already published several works about Formula One.

From the perspective of Formula One drivers, Bernard Cahier was more than just a photographer. He was a member of their elite community. As a privileged and respected witness to Formula One’s early years, Cahier enjoyed a unique access to his subjects. For Cahier, these famously hard and silent men were willing to let down their guard, allowing his camera to record images that represent real moments of shared intimacy.

Bernard’s son, Paul-Henri, was blessed with the same gifts as his father, and he soon found his own place in the Formula One community. Between them, across six decades of Formula One history, every grand prix driver has been immortalized by the Cahier duo—from Nino Farina, the very first World Champion in 1950, to the reigning title holder, Kimi Räikkönen. Choosing which drivers to feature—and which ones to leave out—was a painful process. But the results are spectacular. Represented here are seventy-two legendary grand prix drivers; their portraits and stories tell the breathtaking history of Formula One, with all of its triumph and tragedy, joy and loss.

The heroes of Grand Prix racing--Fangio, Jim Clark, Phil Hill, Bruce McLaren, Jackie Stewart, Mario Andretti, Nigel Mansell, and Michael Schumacher, to name but a few--are familiar to F1 fans. But would their faces and feats be so well known if not for the extraordinary efforts of the photographers who have captured their images in legendary fashion?

This book gives readers a look at Grand Prix racing’s top drivers by way of its top photographers, the father and son team of Bernard and Paul-Henri Cahier. Bernard Cahier began shooting F1 in 1952. In the late 1960s, he was joined by his son. Their images, reproduced here in all their brilliance, capture some of the most memorable, even legendary, moments in the history of Grand Prix racing.

These incomparable photographs comprise intimate portraits of seventy-two of the sports’ greatest drivers from the 1950s through today. Beautifully printed in rich black and white, the pictures treat readers to an encounter with the legendary racers of the Grand Prix that is at once remarkably fresh and historically rich.

Xavier Chimits is a former editor-in-chief of France’s L'Automobile Magazine and has published several books about Formula One. Over the two decades that he has covered F1 racing, he formed a close friendship with Bernard and Paul-Henri Cahier. This book is the result of that friendship.