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Saying that Valentino Rossi is a creature of habit is a bit of an understatement. Intensely superstitious, Rossi follows a specific routine each time he leaves the pit box and heads out on track.

Part of the routine is the kneel beside the bike, hands on the foot peg, moment of internal reflection, or prayer, or whatever runs though his mind each time.

After decades in Grand Prix racing, Rossi has performed this ritual thousands of times, and it has been photographed by various shooters in pit lane probably tens of thousands of times. I don’t have any firm data to support this statement, but it seems pretty safe given that there is usually at least a handful of photographers photographing this ritual, and sometimes there are so many focussed on it that you can barely move until Rossi rides away.

So getting a new perspective on the ritual is quite a challenge. I’ve pretty much given up trying, in fact. But Rossi does make a great portrait subject, so I am sometimes at his box as he leaves looking for an interesting expression in his eyes.

At Phillip Island I was photographing him in QP2 as his team changed his bike’s rear tire. I got several portraits while his visor was up. As he performed the ritual I wasn’t even intending to photograph it, partially because his Yamaha M1 was between Rossi and where I was standing.

Suddenly I got a glimpse of him through the gap between the seat and the rear tire. I fired off a single exposure, and came away with a view that has probably be recorded many times, but which I’ve not seen before.

Photograph: ©2014 by Scott Jones / PHOTO.GP – All Rights Reserved

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Camera Info: Nikon D4 with Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8