Motorsport Images present for F1's restart, 70 years after being at series' birth

There is a poignant symmetry to their presence at the opening races in Austria and ensuing events at Silverstone as photographers like Michael Tee of LAT Images, which forms the spine of the Motorsport Images library, were also present at the first grand prix of the F1 World Championship era, at Silverstone in 1950.

Images from the unbroken history of coverage of F1 ever since that first 1950 grand prix are among the highlights of the Motorsport Images library.

With 26 million images, it is the largest motorsport and automotive image archive in the world, with the LAT Images collection supplemented by the collections of Rainer Schlegelmilch, Ercole Colombo, Sutton Images and technical artist Giorgio Piola.

Going further back still, it has images of the first motor races, including the inaugural "grand prix" event in France in 1906.

The world governing body, the FIA, together with the management team of F1, has scheduled an eight-race resumption of racing with further rounds set to be added.

Following an extensive programme of work carried out by the FIA safety and medical departments and released as 'Return to Motor Sport Guidelines', a comprehensive plan is in place for selected personnel to safely attend the race venues and Motorsport Network and LAT Images are fully subscribed to this programme and supportive of the FIA measures.

Steven Tee, managing director of LAT Images, said: "We are very happy and proud to be amongst a very small group allowed to shoot at F1's resumption at the upcoming scheduled races in Europe.

"Our team of four track and two pit-based photographers will be onsite thanks to LAT's association with four of the F1 teams, and we would like to thank them, the FIA and F1 for making this a possibility.

"The second Silverstone race will officially mark 70 years of the sport.

"We covered the first ever race in 1950 and it is a huge achievement to be still shooting for the 70-year event.

"It is really gratifying to see how much photography still plays a huge part in telling the various stories at an F1 race, be it commercial, media or on social channels."