I Spent Four Days With the Leica Q3 43 F1 Camera

Nov 13, 2026

A giant television screen is as close as I got to shooting F1 with the limited-edition Leica Q3 43.

Formula One has changed a lot since I’ve been watching. People used to look at me strangely when I said I enjoyed watching race cars drive around in circles on a Sunday. Now, the sport is swamped by new fans drawn to the sport via Netflix’s Drive to Survive and Charles Leclerc’s boyish good looks.

I hold no ill will towards this new generation of fans who I doubt can list every F1 World Champion going all the way back to the 1980s as I can. In fact, without them, I dare say I would never have received the limited edition Leica Q3 43 F1 edition in a brown cardboard box this week.

A black Leica camera with a red shutter button and a red logo sits on a surface, with the lens cap in the foreground.

A close-up view of the back of a black digital camera featuring a carbon fiber top plate, a red shutter button, and a rear LCD screen.

After news broke about the new camera, I simply had to try it. Photography and F1 have a history: Canon sponsored Williams in the team’s glory days; possibly my favourite F1 photo of all time is Nigel Mansell and Ayrton Senna glancing over at each other while driving almost 200 miles per hour in Barcelona in 1991. Their wheels are inches apart from each other, both daring each other to see who will brake first. The sponsor on Mansell’s wing reads ‘Canon.’

Two Formula One race cars drive side-by-side on a track, with the yellow-and-blue Canon car on the left and the red-and-white Marlboro car on the right.

So far as I know, this is Leica’s first-ever foray into F1. The special version of the Q3 43 comes with carbon fiber grips, a material that’s both light and strong, which is why F1 teams have been using it to build cars for the past 40 years.

The camera comes covered in non-slip microvelour that’s modeled on a racing steering wheel. The pictures really don’t do this material justice; it’s a beautiful touch and I couldn’t stop running my fingers over it, like when you’ve just shaved your head.

A close-up, angled view of a black camera lens attached to a camera body, showing aperture settings, focus distance markings, and a red Leica logo.

That’s not all the F1-inspired hardware, either. The shutter is a soft-release button with a carbon inlay and red rim. It reminds me of an old-school stopwatch, the kind you’d see in a movie about a promising young rookie arriving for testing with an established team at a rain-soaked racetrack somewhere in England. He completes his first lap, the timekeeper clicks the stopwatch, glances at the time, turns to the engineers, and gives a knowing smile. You just know he’s going to be something special.

A close-up, high-angle view of the top plate of a black camera, featuring a red-rimmed shutter button, a shutter speed dial, and a carbon fiber inlay, set against a blurred, golden-toned background.

Having never shot a Leica Q3 of any focal length, I immediately fell in love with it. I mean, it’s just so damn beautiful. It’s a perfectly proportioned camera, and a joy to use. It took me no time at all to set up, and I particularly enjoyed the little ‘zoom’ button that crops into the sensor from the 60-megapixel 43mm to the five-megapixel 150mm end.

An F1 Arcade interior features a large vertical screen displaying a race leaderboard and a Ferrari Formula 1 car, with glowing red circular lights and multiple gaming monitors below. — I headed to the F1 Arcade to take the camera for a spin.

A Formula 1-style race car is suspended upside down from a ceiling, featuring a red and blue reflective body with the word "ARCADE" visible on the rear wing.

A top-down view of a Formula 1 car cockpit, showing the steering wheel display, the halo safety structure, and the bright orange nose cone. — This is pretty much straight out of camera JPEG with a bit of contrast boost.

A close-up of a white racing helmet featuring the name "Nigel Mansell" in black script and a small Union Jack flag.

A woman with dark hair pulled back wears a black sequined jacket with "F1 ARCADE" on the back, looking over her shoulder while standing at a marble-topped bar in a dimly lit venue with neon lighting. — Fatima from the F1 arcade let me take her portrait. It’s a great portrait camera.

A person in a black hoodie and beanie performs a BMX trick over a green metal rail inside an indoor skatepark with graffiti-covered walls. — I headed to the skatepark to see how it handled action. It’s no action camera, but nevertheless I got some decent frames in.

A man in a grey sweatshirt and backwards cap performs a BMX grind on a metal rail inside an indoor skatepark.

A view through a graffiti-covered concrete tunnel looking out toward a skate park ramp with a green and yellow checkered pattern.

A person on a BMX bike jumps over a green metal rail in an indoor skatepark with Pokémon-themed graffiti on the wall.

Two smiling young men sit together in an indoor skate park, with one man wearing a beanie and the other in a black hoodie, next to a BMX bike and a large orange and black sign. — Once again, this camera shines at portraits.

And it’s certainly a head-turner. I showed it to as many people as I could over the past four days, and everyone was taken with it. The BMXers were particularly impressed with the microvelour finish. My mom called it “handsome.”

A bus stop advertisement for BetterYou Vitamin D oral sprays featuring two people spraying the product into their mouths. — It’s a fun camera for street shots like this. This is fully cropped in at 150mm.

A cobblestone street at night lined with brick row houses, illuminated by warm streetlights and parked cars.

An indoor food hall features long wooden tables and benches with people dining under hanging lights and disco balls, surrounded by various food stalls. — Spinning the sliders on the RAW file, it holds up pretty good.

A cluster of autumn-colored trees with orange and brown leaves stands in a grassy field under a clear blue sky with birds.

A cyclist in dark clothing and a red helmet rides a bicycle across a grassy field in front of a line of autumn trees with motion blur.

I wanted to shoot some pulsating auto action with it, but I quickly realized that — despite the F1 logo on the front — it’s not exactly a camera for shooting high-speed objects. It’s still a Leica Q3; it’s a camera that wants you to slow down and think carefully about what you’re shooting. In his review of the Q3 43, Chris Niccolls said, “There is a simplicity and a meditative experience to be had, wandering the streets with a compact camera on your shoulder.” That is true.

As I write this, the camera is already on its way back to Leica. I will miss it. But at almost $10,000, it’s very unlikely I will be buying one.

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