The Formula One season not only sees the world's most wealthy clientele, but it also has a dark secret, as every team has a number of photographers to spy on their rivals.
With the Formula One season having started this weekend with the first Grand Prix at Australia on Sunday, the dark secrets of the world's most expensive sport have come to light. Each team has a number of photographers equipped with long lenses for the sole purpose of spying on their rivals.
Chief executive of the Lotus Formula One Team Matthew Carter has revealed that this is why teams work hard to keep their cars covered, News.com.au reported.
Carter said that every time a car comes into the pits, the team immediately put shields around them, adding that Red Bull even put camouflage stuff on their car.
Carter said that the 'James Bond-esque' strategy helps teams obtain information from their rivals that could be helpful for future races, adding that they have a photography team for the whole season and tell them to focus on the back of the Red Bull or the front of the Mercedes.
Carter claimed that the photographers would take the pictures and the team would sometimes try and replicate what they see.
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However, Carter said that making the modifications wasn't always possible. He claimed that one can see certain things and be like that's a nice feature, but because the majority of their aerodynamics is set in stone, it would impossible to replicate.
Carter claimed that one cannot just change the side parts to look like Mercedes because that would change the flow and one would have to redesign the whole car.