Arriving at the Circuit de Catalunya is a bit like coming home. It is a track the teams, drivers and photographers are familiar with. We spend so much time here on cold winter days, watching the new cars pound around on long runs during winter testing that each corner, vantage point and angle are like old familiar friends. This is the benchmark circuit for all teams, and is usually the first one driven in the simulator when new parts are being tested.

Now it is spring, the empty stands are filled with fans. The cold winter days are replaced by spring energy and new starts. Formula One makes its European return after four fly away races. The paddock is buzzing with excitement. The teams have unleashed their gargantuan hospitality suites for the first time this season. A plethora of new parts are on display. Those breaking regulations are quickly banned, never to be seen again. The atmosphere is thick with anticipation.

Race weekend started with the track walk, I find this fascinating. You can closely observe the drivers discussing the intricate details of the track with their engineers. Sebastian Vettel, for example, likes to pace out the run off areas and walks over the outer curbs to get a feel for their height and elevation.

For Free Practice 1 I positioned myself at turn 13 where I had a great view of the cars coming over a small rise. This is a perfect location to observe car set-up and stability as highlighted later by the poor performing Williams driven by Lance Stroll losing control and going into the barrier. I worked my way down to the chicane at 14 and 15. This is a fabulous place to photograph cars as you often get them flying off the curbs when the drivers are pushing and the slow corners allow you to get some great action shots. From a racing perspective you can’t help feel the chicane disrupts the natural racing line and robs the fans of the spectacle of seeing the cars power through the last sector following the MotoGP track configuration. The highlight of the session was seeing Robert Kubica in the Williams for his first free practice session since his horrific accident. The exceptionally gifted Polish driver set a competitive time in what is a truly awful Williams.

I was in the pits for FP2. This is such a dramatic place to photograph F1 cars. You have the dark garages with downlights on the cars making for powerful scenes as the drivers step into them to the frenetic organised chaos of a pit stop. Something that always amazes me is no matter what a team is doing, their garage is always immaculate.

Turn 9 is one of the best corners of the track. Its fast, blind, and the wind gusts between the grandstands adding to the complexity. The cars spark spectacularly as they crest this corner. I started FP3 from here and then made my way around the track to turn 5. In hindsight this was a mistake, I should have done it the other way round as Brendon Hartley lost it there and had a massive shunt at turn 9 at the end of the session. Over drinks that evening all the journalists were speculating who would be replacing him and which would be his last event. It has been a very messy start of the year for Hartley, who is a great guy, always cheerful and approachable. Hopefully he can turn it around before the Red Bull axe falls a second time. He described the crash as "definitely the biggest accident I've had in a long time. It happens in slow motion. I was going backwards towards the wall, so you don't really know when the impact is going to come. You brace yourself a bit, but it's never a lot of fun." The result was him missing Qualifying and starting the race from the back of the grid.

The critical point on deciding where to shoot from for Qualifying is working out how you can get back to the pits to watch the celebrations and where you can have as many different scenes as possible in the helter-skelter qualifying shootout. I chose the inside of turn 10 where you pan the cars as they drive up the hill. There is a large red sponsors logo on the tarmac which adds interest to the scene. From there it is easy to cover the chicane from a different angle, and finally turn 16 before running back to the pits. All good in theory but when Stroll crashed, I ran up to turn 13 to catch the aftermath, forcing me to re-plan my route on the fly. Hamilton put in a mighty middle sector to claim pole by 0.040s from his team mate, two Ferraris and two Red Bulls. Magnussen was the best of the rest. He is having a great year thanks to some team stability and is showing the skills that made him such a tantalising prospect as a McLaren junior.

Race day arrived with mixed weather, clouds were building up and the prospect of rain was on everyone's lips. A wet start completely changes where in the track you want to be, and where you think the action will happen. I had one eye on the sky as I picked my way between the cars and celebs on the grid. As they have done for years two anthems were played, Els Segadors (the Catalonian anthem) followed by the Marcha Real, this coupled with the Catalonian flag being displayed alongside the Spanish flag which was seen by some as an attempt to politicise the event. As the drivers climbed into their cars and the teams readied their chargers I sprinted down to the inside of turn 2 and 3. I felt sure that there would be contact on the first lap. A good start is critical here as it is so hard to overtake, and as such drivers are willing to take greater risks. I was almost right, had I continued to turn 4 I would have had a great view of the Grosjean conflagration.

Apart from that the race was fairly dull, the promised rain only came after the race. Hamilton dominated from the front, Vettel made a surprise stop which dropped him to fourth. Verstappen the benefactor, put in a very solid, responsible and unspectacular drive - just what he needed to claim third. He did have some font end plate damage but was still able to fend off Vettel. Magnussen converted his seventh place start into an excellent sixth place finish. Things on the other side of the Haas garage were less celebratory as Grosjean was penalised for causing the first lap incident which took out Gasly and Hulkenberg, the later suggesting Grosjean does a bit more homework and less spinning in future. At the end of the race I stood below the podium watching as Hamilton sprayed everyone with champagne. The Mercedes team celebrating extending Hamilton's lead of the championship and a solid second place for Bottas after the disappointment of Baku.