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Courtesy of VCARBDecember 11, 2025Life & CultureFeatureLife & Culture / FeatureMeet the young creatives VCARB is getting into F1

Alongside three creatives from the VCARB Creator Platform, we speak to Dazed Club photographer Katie Bishop about what the experience at the F1 in Austin was like

ShareLink copied ✔️In Partnership with VCARBDecember 11, 2025December 11, 2025TextDazed DigitalVCARB – Creator Platform CREATOR_PLATFROM_DJ_HIGHRES.00_02_51_17.Still009

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Throughout this year, young creatives from around the world have been getting involved with Formula One like never before, stepping into the paddock and seeing the sport from a completely new angle. VCARB’s Creator Platform has made this possible, giving photographers, filmmakers, DJs and stylists the chance to experience a race weekend first-hand and create work that truly reflects their perspective. By opening doors that were once tightly closed, the programme is changing who gets to be part of F1 culture and how it’s seen, giving emerging voices a real platform to shape the story around the sport.

Three of the lucky creators were DJ TIO, Florentine and Mariê Balbinot, each bringing something different to race weekends across the world. At Silverstone, DJ TIO shaped the British Grand Prix through sound and energy. “It was an unforgettable experience, truly on another level compared to anywhere I’ve played before,” he explains. “It tested me in the best way possible and opened my eyes to just how far DJing can take me, giving me a whole new wave of motivation.”

Photography Katie Bishop

In Monza, home of the Italian Grand Prix and one of the fastest circuits on the calendar, photographer Florentine approached the weekend using instincts built in music photography. “My inspiration came from my usual style in music photography. I wanted to bring the same artistic approach to motorsport,” she explains. “Playing with textures, light leaks and movement helped me show the atmosphere of the weekend in a more creative way, not just the classic clean F1 shots.”

Elsewhere in Brazil, visual artist Mariê Balbinot brought the Creator Platform into the streets with a spray-painted mural celebrating the strength of women in racing. She focused on helmeted female drivers, a symbol she sees as protective and personal. “My main inspiration is where I connect the theme. For this art, for example, I have the helmet, which is a really important item for the drivers. It protects their lives. For me, a helmet protects your thoughts, your energy, and your mind is very important, especially when you’re in a competition," says Balbinot. "To work with VCARB is amazing, it’s bringing artists together …. especially for an artist like me who works in the streets, we’re not talking about contemporary art, it’s something that for many years was [marginalised].” Her mural showed how Formula One can be interpreted through local culture and voices outside traditional art spaces.

To explore how the platform continues to grow, Dazed sent Dazed Club photographer Katie Bishop to Austin for the United States Grand Prix. Her experience began with the intensity of the fans. “The fandom for racing is electric. The frenzy, the excitement, the rush to secure the best spot, it was infectious," Bishop says, reflecting on the weekend.

Courtesy of VCARB

Inside the garage, she discovered a quieter, more intricate side of the sport. “The exposed organic metal components showcased the engineers’ technical craft, something often overshadowed by performance alone. Viewing such a high-performing machine up close was unforgettable. The special livery transformed it into this pearlescent, tortoise-shell piece of character that was easy to spot on the track – it served.” She also enjoyed catching glimpses of what was coming next. “Sneak peeks of future liveries were also incredibly exciting,” she says.

“This programme is an act of faith in the next generation, proof that our potential is seen and valued. It’s the antonym of gatekeeping. To me, it embodies the principle that there is ‘space for everyone‘” – Katie Bishop

Elsewhere, the weekend was full of small human moments that contrasted with the scale of the event. One that stayed with her was meeting Liam Lawson’s partner. “I loved her fashion on the grid, photographed her outfit, and she kindly gave me a Rhode lip gloss after I mentioned struggling to find any in Sephora in the States,” explains Bishop. “It felt like a real moment of girlhood on the grid. Even the little wave we shared in the garage was sweet.”

For Bishop, photography first began as simply a habit that was for personal enjoyment. “Initially, it was selfish, I’ve always been obsessed with documenting things so my future self can feel nostalgic for them.” It has since become more intentional. “Today, what inspires me is storytelling in fashion, film as well as finding the stories to be documented and told.”

For Bishop, the Creator Platform is more than just access to a race weekend. “This programme is an act of faith in the next generation, proof that our potential is seen and valued. It’s the antonym of gatekeeping. To me, it embodies the principle that there is ‘space for everyone.’”

Bishop’s experience, alongside others, demonstrates the VCARB programme's success in broadening access to Formula One culture for young creatives. Over the past few months, for our partnership with VCARB, we’ve called on our own community to showcase how the Creator Platform can come to life during race weekend diaries, interviews and Dazed Clubber imagery.

Head here to revisit.

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