The
Formula 1
circus opens this weekend with the
Bahrain Grand Prix
and nineteen drivers who will have a common goal, beating the Dutchman
Max Verstappen
, three-time champion and top favorite to achieve the "tetra" aboard his
Red Bull
.
Meanwhile, in the absence of serious contenders, the Dutchman has fun racing against a drone, the fastest with a camera on board and designed by his own team.
This was shown in a video released by
Red Bull Racing , recorded on the
Silverstone
tracks
and with Mad Max aboard the
RB20
with which he will compete in the 2024 season. Verstappen in front of the drone, both flying at 300 km/h along the straights of the British circuit, and with the small device recording incredible shots at super high speed.
In the midst of the scandal with
Christian Horner
and awaiting the results of the investigation opened by
Red Bull
, the team of Verstappen and Checo Pérez surprised the world with a presentation at the height of their dominance in the category.
"This is Formula 1 like you've never seen it before," says the presentation created by Red Bull as the RB20 takes a full lap.
It is the world's first uninterrupted single FPV (first person) shot and was captured by a custom, manually piloted drone.
It was designed specifically for the challenge of keeping up with Verstappen's car, with speeds that exceeded 300 kilometers per hour, according to the Austrian team.
Max Verstappen's RB20, in one of the Silverstone curves and from a plane never seen before.
The video shared by Red Bull explains well how the process led to this sensational achievement that combines technology and passion for Formula 1. For more than a year the team has been working with
Dutch Drone Gods
, a company specialized in this type of aerial technologies.
After practicing with former driver
David Coulthard
, who appears at the helm of the RB8 used in the 2012 season, the drone company began developing this engineering marvel that is capable of accelerating twice as fast as a Formula 1 car. and reach 300 kilometers per hour in just 4 seconds, reaching a maximum speed of 350 kilometers per hour.
The drone was developed for more than a year and tested on the track with former pilot David Coulthard.
Once the drone was ready, and with its "pilot" already prepared to test itself against Verstappen, the big race was ready for the "Filming Day", the day that each team chooses to show their vehicles on the track, an initiative that ended up being imposed on calendars for marketing purposes.
Despite the wet track conditions that Silverstone presented, the images captured are amazing and have Formula 1 fans on fire, who can enjoy never-before-seen shots of a car in high quality and at such speed.
The setting has its mystique: Silverstone was the circuit where the first Grand Prix in history in the category was held, in 1950, and seeing Verstappen now covering its almost 6,000 meters continues to project F1 to futuristic levels.
Max Verstappen in front of the drone developed between Red Bull and the Dutch Drone Gods company.
“I never thought I would see a drone going so fast just to record camera footage,” Verstappen says in the video.
“I was really surprised at how fast he could keep up and also how close he could go in the corners, how he turns.
"It gives a slightly different perspective to see F1," added the three-time champion, who proposed repeating the race in normal weather conditions, without rain.
This year, Mad Max wants to repeat last year's triumphant ride on a calendar that will have 24 circuits during 2024. The Dutchman has had three consecutive world championships since 2021 and the last one was the easiest for him, as he added a total of 575 points, doubling the score of the second classified, his teammate, the Mexican 'Checo' Pérez, and which had him as the winner in nineteen of the twenty-two races of the competition.