How 'Mister Crash' captured Monaco's defining moment

Hamilton's struggles to keep the medium tyres alive provided the 2019 Monaco Formula 1 race with a rare nail-biting battle for the lead, which culminated in the chasing Verstappen's last-gasp passing attempt at the Nouvelle Chicane on the third-to-last lap. The two cars made contact as Verstappen tried to edge alongside the Mercedes, but Hamilton remained ahead, and though the reigning champion was forced to take the escape road, the battle was decided in his favour.

Bratic, who was on hand to capture the decisive moment of the duel up close and personal, recalled: “Last year I was in exactly the same corner throughout the Monaco race. Five laps before the end I thought: 'F**k it, I'm going to the podium'. And when I had just left, [Charles] Leclerc crashed there.

“This year I said to myself: 'Whatever happens, I'll stay until the end'. Hamilton and Verstappen, and Vettel and Bottas had been close together for the whole race, so I was hoping for some action. I saw that the tyres of Hamilton were not so good anymore. Luckily Max tried it.

"You play a lot with lenses and shutter speeds when shooting. A few laps earlier I took pictures with a different lens and with a slower shutter speed. If the incident had happened at that moment, the photos would never have been so good. Luckily I had the perfect settings at the right time.”

Scroll through the images below by clicking on the arrows...

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The story of 'Mister Crash'

The Verstappen/Hamilton scrap was the latest of a fair few incidents that Bratic was in the right place at the right time for - this recent streak having earned the snapper a paddock nickname.

He said: “Since last year, my colleagues call me 'Mister Crash'. Last year I had seven or eight crashes on photo. That started at Paul Ricard with the [Marcus] Ericsson crash, in which his car caught fire. After that I was the only one with the pictures of the two Red Bulls in Baku, and I had the best pictures of Ericsson [crashing again] at Monza.

“That's how I got that nickname. Now everyone asks me in which corner I'm going to stand and they follow me.

“Monaco is special. You can't get that close to the cars anywhere. The series of the two crashing Red Bulls in Baku is my best-known series but that was taken from far away. In Monaco, I was standing with my nose on top of it. The whole series is great, I have about 30 pictures that are all sharp and good."

More amazing action photos by Bratic

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