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# The family behind one of F1's greatest archives
- URL: https://www.the-race.com/extra/the-family-behind-one-of-f1s-greatest-archives/
- Published: 2026-10-01T17:31:47.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T17:31:46.000Z
- Description: For almost 70 years, Bernard and Paul-Henri Cahier have captured every aspect of Formula 1.
- Author: Fleur Mealing
- Tags: Extra

For almost 70 years, the Cahier family have documented Formula 1 from the inside.

Beginning with Bernard Cahier in 1952 and continuing through his son Paul-Henri until 2019, the father-son duo documented generations of drivers, races, and life around the track, creating an archive that spans almost the entire history of the world championship. 

At the heart of the collection is an estimated 400,000 photographs, as well as many other items such as letters, racing plates, pins, stickers, and posters capturing seven decades of the pinnacle of motorsport.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/10/Mansell_92_Belgium_01.jpg)

**Nigel Mansell at the 1992 Belgian Grand Prix captured by Paul-Henri*

Just as remarkable as its size is that the Cahier Archive remains firmly in the hands of the family, making it the only F1 photographic archive to have stayed with its original creators.

What has resulted in a priceless collection of memories, often used by us at the Race, started as just the father’s photos spread across the living room floor. 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/10/Clark_65_England_02.jpg)

**Jim Clark at the 1956 British Grand Prix captured by Bernard*

"He would get all the prints back from the photographer and go into our living room and spread the photos on the floor. Then he would go around and he would start making selections," Paul-Henri recalls of his father, Bernard.

As Bernard sorted images into piles destined for different magazines, his son watched from nearby, surrounded by scenes from racetracks across the world.

"My first memory is seeing all these race pictures on the floor as printed photos."

## Everybody knew Bernard

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/10/Cahier-Enzo_56_Italy_01.jpg)

**Bernard speaking with Enzo Ferrari, Italy 1956*

Bernard Cahier's first grand prix was an assignment to the 1952 Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Armed with little more than a Kodak Retina 2 camera, the photojournalist somehow acquired a paddock pass and quickly began doing what he would become best known for - talking to people.

By the end of the weekend, he had made friends throughout the paddock. Over the decades that followed, he became one of the most recognisable figures in F1 photography, developing close relationships with drivers including Graham Hill, Phil Hill and Dan Gurney.

"Everybody knew Bernard. And Bernard knew everybody," says Paul-Henri.

Among those friendships, none stood out more than his relationship with Juan Manuel Fangio.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/10/Fangio-PHC_61_Evian_01.8585e88c5f.jpg)

**Fangio giving a young Paul-Henri some pointers in 1961, captured by Bernard*

"Because Fangio became a real friend of the family. He would come to our home, he would stay there and he would make an Argentinian barbecue in the garden."

During Bernard's time, the paddock was smaller, less formal and far more accessible than it is today, allowing genuine friendships to develop between people in the paddock.

Looking back, Paul-Henri believes that is one of the biggest changes F1 has undergone.

"We used to go to the Grand Prix, it was very loose, it was sort of friendly and open."

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/10/Schell-Cahier_59_Portugal_01.99ab2a0bb0.jpg)

**Harry Schell catches a bottle of water from Bernard, Portugal 1959*

As the sport grew, safety restrictions, corporate hospitality and increasingly controlled access changed the way photographers worked and interacted with the people around them.

"People knew each other and I think camaraderie is a key word,” Paul-Henri explains.

“And I think that's gone and that's certainly too bad."

In many ways, the Cahier Archive preserves that world before F1 became the behemoth we know today.

What set Bernard apart, however, was not simply access but the way he used it.

"He's been called the Cartier-Bresson of motor racing and that’s quite a compliment because he had an eerie talent to be at the right place at the right time and be very close to people."

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/10/Hunt_74_Monaco_01.jpg)

**James Hunt at the 1974 Monaco Grand Prix, captured by Bernard*

Paul-Henri believes his father possessed an unusual ability to blend into the background. Drivers trusted him, accepted his presence and eventually stopped noticing the camera altogether.

"He was so close to drivers in particular that he was like one of them."

The result was photographs of natural, unguarded moments that gave viewers a glimpse into the world of the sport.

## The boy with the camera

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/10/PHC_57_Monaco_01.jpg)

**Paul-Henri Cahier sitting in Fangio’s Maserati 250F, Monaco 1957*

Bernard’s passion for F1 may have been a chance encounter, but for Paul-Henri it was not luck that he ended up where he did.

Each year his father would take him from the family's home on the French side of Lake Geneva to Monza, where the sights, sounds and smells of grand prix racing left a lasting impression.

"I was a young boy and I was enchanted,” he says.

“I have a vivid memory of arriving at the track on a Friday morning and hearing the sound of these cars, V12 machines racing and the smell, the smell of Castrol R racing oil and it was so exciting."

Eventually Bernard handed him a camera and encouraged him to take photographs of his own. Paul-Henri's earliest images date from Monza in 1965, a race weekend to remember.

"By coincidence, it was Jackie Stewart's first victory. His victory was the same moment that I did my first pictures and I have pictures of him on the podium.”

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/10/Stewart_65_Italy_02.ddec428543--1-.jpg)

**Jackie Stewart's first podium as captured by a young Paul-Henri*

There was no formal apprenticeship. Bernard showed him the basics of loading film, focusing and exposure, then left him to figure things out for himself. 

“He was not a great teacher, but in a way, it was great because it forced me to learn my way,” explains Paul-Henri.Despite growing up around F1, photography was not Paul-Henri’s number one choice of career. Through his late teens and early twenties, he attended races sporadically, working for his father from time to time while pursuing interests in art, music and travel.

It was not until 1982, after getting married and becoming a father himself, that he decided to make photography his profession. What began as a way of earning a living soon became something more. 

Driven by a fiercely competitive nature, Paul-Henri became determined not just to work in F1, but to be recognised by his peers as one of the sport's leading photographers. Over the next four decades, he built a body of work alongside his father while developing a distinctive style of his own.

## Two ways of seeing Formula 1

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/10/Clark-Ferrari_61_Italy_01.14094f39f7.jpg)

The 1961 Italian Grand Prix, captured by Bernard

Although they shared the same profession, they approached photography differently.

Bernard's strength was his ability to get close to people and capture moments of authenticity. Paul-Henri, by contrast, became fascinated by composition, light and form.

"I have what I would call a graphic eye, I love composition."

That approach led him to seek out dramatic lighting and strong visual contrasts, often positioning himself where dark backgrounds would make the cars stand out.

"I try to find places where I can be in a position where I get dark backgrounds, which I love to do, like Caravaggio style."

The result is that the Cahier Archive tells two very different stories, observational versus artistic. 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/10/Hamilton_07_Canada_02.jpg)

**Lewis Hamilton at the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix, captured by Paul-Henri*

Despite his photography style, Cahier also had a reason for creating distance between himself and the drivers. Paul-Henri came of age during one of F1's most dangerous eras and witnessed first-hand the risks involved.

One memory remains particularly vivid. At the 1968 French Grand Prix in Rouen, the Cahier family spent the weekend with French driver Jo Schlesser, who was making his F1 debut for Honda. They shared meals together and saw him throughout the event. Then, on the second lap of the race, Schlesser crashed and was killed.

"I was just one corner above the place where he crashed. I saw this dark smoke and wind and there were bits and pieces scattered and it was all in flames.

"It had quite an impact on me because up till then, secretly, I thought, I want to be a race driver."

After that, describing the moment as a ‘strong encounter with death’, photography seemed a far safer way to remain close to the sport he loved.

## Senna

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/10/Senna_89_Japan_01.jpg)

**Ayrton Senna at the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix, captured by Paul-Henri*

Of all the drivers Paul-Henri photographed during his career, Ayrton Senna remains the most memorable.

Paul-Henri photographed the Brazilian from his F1 debut in 1984 until his final, fatal race, a decade later at Imola. While many photographers were captivated by Senna's brilliance behind the wheel, Paul-Henri found himself drawn to something else.

"What I loved was taking portraits of him."

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/10/Senna_84_Dallas_03.ca65fa9e14.jpg)

**Senna in Dallas 1984, captured by Paul-Henri*

Senna's face, he explains, constantly gave himself away. Unlike many elite drivers, who appeared calm and controlled at all times, Senna's feelings often seemed visible even when he was trying to contain them.

"He was extremely emotional, he would master it but it would show on his face. And his face was very changeable, very mobile, very expressive."

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/10/Senna_89_Japan_04.cead354f42.jpg)

**Senna in Japan 1989, captured by Paul-Henri*

Yet despite that openness, there was always a degree of distance.

"He had a bit of an invisible wall around him and a few people got close to him, but not many. In a way, he was very shy which is amazing when you see what he did,” adds Paul-Henri.

## Father and son

By the early 1980s, Paul-Henri was building a professional career of his own. For a brief period, father and son worked side by side in F1, travelling to races together and contributing to the same growing archive.

It lasted only a few years (1982-1985), but they remain some of Paul-Henri's happiest memories.

"We had several years together going to the racetracks, which was a very nice period."

They stayed in the same hotels, shared meals and spent long weekends together at circuits around the world. By then, Bernard had begun to see his son establishing himself as a respected photographer in his own right, publishing regularly and eventually becoming Chief Photographer of the Autocourse motorsport annual.

That success meant a great deal to him.

"He started seeing that I was publishing pictures of high quality. And that all made him proud. So it's nice for a son to make your father proud."

## The last Cahier

For all its historical significance, the Cahier Archive remains a remarkably personal project.

Bernard passed away at the age of 81, in July 2008, leaving the entirety of the archive in his son’s capable hands. 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/10/B-Cahier_98_Germany_01.142242eb8f.jpg)

**Paul-Henri captured this photo of his father Bernard at Hockenheim in 1988*

Over the years, Paul-Henri has received offers to sell the collection, but he has always declined. Preserving it within the family felt important, both as a continuation of his father's work and as a way of protecting the archive's identity.

"I was offered to sell the archive, I always refused and I always thought there would be sort of a dynasty process."

The reality, however, is that the family line may end with him. Despite his best efforts to instil a love of F1 photography in his sons, both chose different career paths.

"I wish I could give it to my children. I have two sons who are excellent photographers. But they're not into that."

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/10/PHC_11_Germany_01.f46865588c.jpg)

**Paul-Henri at the 2011 German Grand Prix*

Upon his death, Paul-Henri explains that the archive will be left to his sons, but it’s entirely up to them what they decide to do with it. “Once you're gone, whatever happens is no longer your problem,” he laughs.

That makes Paul-Henri not only the archive's curator, but perhaps its final Cahier custodian. Around 400,000 film photographs remain in the collection, many of them still existing as physical negatives and prints waiting to be digitised.

Looking through them today reveals far more than a visual record of Formula 1\. 

The archive is a treasure trove of moments that would catch the eye of even the most fair-weather F1 fan. It captures the entirety of the sport from the racers, cars, celebrations and losses, to the friendships, families, that existed around the racing itself. 

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/dd/af/ddafbd99-2ccd-468c-b622-4b3cccf80b49/content/images/2026/10/Schumacher_00_Brazil_01.jpg)

**Michael Schumacher at the 2000 Brazilian Grand Prix, captured by Paul-Henri*

Many of those photographs would not look out of place hanging in a museum or art gallery. Perhaps that is why Paul-Henri still speaks about the collection with such affection.

"Because that's how I regard it, as artwork."

After seven decades and two generations, the Cahier Archive has become something unique: a family album of Formula 1, built by a father and son who witnessed much of the sport's history from the inside.