Innovation
The future of drones in F1 after Red Bull tests ‘world’s fastest camera’
by Samarth Kanal
9min read
Red Bull recently put what is claimed to be the world’s fastest camera drone to work above Max Verstappen in its RB20 Formula 1 car for a spectacular experiment that went viral on YouTube. Formula 1 is now exploring that technology for its broadcasts – but there are numerous obstacles in the championship’s way.
The 350km/h drone
“I think that can be one of the best F1 shots ever,” said Verstappen at the beginning of Red Bull’s video, shot at Silverstone ahead of pre-season testing.
I think that can be one of the best F1 shots ever
Max Verstappen
The drone in question is built by Dutch Drone Gods, a company that focuses on producing high-end drone videos for live events and movies. Its project began in early 2023 when the fastest FPV (first-person view) drones could consistently reach 180km/h.
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Red Bull Advanced Technologies helped develop a faster drone prototype with tests at Silverstone
Dutch Drone Gods spent eight months testing drones that could reach faster speeds and in September 2023, it tracked Red Bull reserve driver Liam Lawson at the wheel of the 2023 RB19 F1 car in a high-speed lap of Silverstone. The Dutch company wanted to go faster still, so it collaborated with Red Bull Advanced Technologies (RBAT) to improve the drone, with RBAT manufacturing glass-fibre canopies and carbon-fibre arms.
The new prototype drone took to the skies above Silverstone in mid-February of 2024, following Verstappen around the British Grand Prix venue. In the process the drone reached a maximum speed of 350km/h.
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How the fastest camera drone compares to the average off-the-shelf model
“Those shots have never really been done before – the quality is really good,” said Verstappen as he watched the footage. “You have to also be careful of the bridges!
"It’s crazy, I never thought I’d see a drone going that quick. It gives a really different perspective to Formula 1.
This can change how people can watch Formula 1.
Max Verstappen
Why drones are a challenge for F1 broadcasting
Drones are used to perform spectacular opening and closing ceremonies at F1 venues such as Jeddah and Las Vegas, but the F1 broadcast itself does not yet incorporate them.
F1’s director of broadcast and media, Dean Locke, explains: “For us, it’s still very challenging: The speed of [the F1] cars is still ridiculously fast. We have these events where we’re getting over 400,000 people turning up over a weekend so not flying over crowds is actually quite difficult now.
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A drone light show in action above Jeddah Corniche Circuit
"There is a good reason why we don’t have things flying [over the track] and [uncontrollable], but that is the difference: when I get a WhatsApp in the middle of the night from my boss who’s watched [drone footage] of skiing and saying, ‘Look, isn’t this amazing?’, there’s no crowd either side of that ski slope and they’re following a skier with no one behind, so it’s sort of different.
“Some of the sports I watch in America, it’s great; post-produced, it’s not live. Also getting a really fast, really good-quality signal off a drone with low latency in the most crowded RF [radio frequency] set-up, virtually, on the planet, is very, very challenging.”
Locke also highlights the other issues that capacity crowds pose when using drones: latency – a delay between the drone capturing footage and sending it back to the TV compound – and interference from other equipment around the track.
“It works really well in testing but everyone turns up and it doesn’t quite work quite as well. On paper, it should work from five kilometres away… Lots of challenges, but we do intend to do a few extra bits around that as well.”
Inside the world’s fastest drone
The future of drones in F1?
Despite the safety and operational challenges that come with flying drones above racing circuits, Formula 1 is still pushing ahead to implement them in its broadcast.
“We are always playing around with drones. Drones have been amazing for some sports.
“We’re working and we had a meeting with the FIA [recently] to discuss various stuff. We actually cracked a few areas in Las Vegas, we did some nice stuff in Vegas, so we are doing some work on not only the speed of drones but just where – how light can we go? Can we go incredibly small so, therefore, if it does drop, or does something, it’s doing very little damage? As opposed to the companies that approach us with these huge things and it just scares the life [out of us],” says Locke.
“So you will see some drone stuff this year.”
Pilot Ralph Hogenbrik with Red Bull F1 driver Sergio Perez
Furthermore, F1 has spoken to Dutch Drone Gods about its prototype’s potential when it comes to broadcasting races.
“It’s really interesting, what they’ve done with it – because it’s a private test, they don’t have to adhere to 99% of rules that we have to. But we’re talking with them,” says Locke.
“What do you do with it? It’s really quick, but you can’t fly it over a crowd, you can’t cross the track, it doesn’t have a moving head or things like that, so it kind of has to follow the car to the side – it’s actually quite tricky. But there are places, like the back straight in China, the back straight in Austin, there are a couple of areas we’ve planned to talk to them about. If they don’t get a speed limit put on them as soon as they turn up…”
Red Bull’s stunt with the world’s fastest drone has shown that smaller aircraft can keep up with F1 cars. While we won’t see a widespread introduction of drone footage on our screens right away in the 2024 season, F1 is working behind the scenes to deliver a new perspective on the world championship.