Red Bull have produced an excellent piece of video showing their RB7 in action.
The high-definition video shows the RB7 through a series of unusual onboard camera angles which are far more interesting than those you usually see in race footage.
This video shows Sebastian Vettel lapping at Jerez, deploying the Drag Reduction System and more:
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Image © Red Bull/Getty images
nickthegeek
20th February 2011, 10:08
Awesome, especially the DRS
boon
20th February 2011, 10:08
just out of interest, can anyone see use of flexi-wing or lack there of in the shot from 1:15 onwards? to my eye it seems to be either very subtly deployed or not in use this year, at least in practice.
nickthegeek
20th February 2011, 10:10
haha i was looking very closely at that as that shot provides a very clear reference for looking at movement, I saw nothing at all.
boon
20th February 2011, 10:16
i agree, its probably something that will come in at the first race of the season, bahrain or otherwise!
BasCB (@bascb)
20th February 2011, 10:53
Hard to tell, i did get the feeling there is a bit of movement, looking at the angle of the small fin right on the front of the wing, but not too sure about that.
anTONIo
20th February 2011, 12:11
The angle of camera is making it difficult to notice BUT it’s flexing mate… Look at the RedBull letters…
mateuss
20th February 2011, 13:27
Its definitely flexing a good amount, but then again, every bodywork panel will flex when a force is exerted on it, the question is – How much relatively to other teams at certain speeds and corners?
nickthegeek
20th February 2011, 10:09
Its a shame its not practical to install those like that for the race weekends.
Damon
20th February 2011, 11:10
Practicality is not an issue, really. The FIA decides the number and placement of cameras on all cars. If someone doesn’t install a camera, they must still put a dummy on the car, so it’s fair to everybody.
Too bad the governing body doesn’t care for improving the show for us with such interesting cameras.
It’s weird that back in the early/mid 90s, there were plenty of cool cameras on the cars.
I love the rotating cameras in IndyCar.
IndyCar > F1
rossi
20th February 2011, 13:31
think its about time we tried those indycar camera`s in f1…… although thank you for the new angles red bull ! :)
Solo (@solo)
20th February 2011, 14:20
I was watching a few old 90’s races a few weeks ago and i really did noticed that they seemed to have a lot more exciting on-board footage.
Now all we get is the on-top camera. Also although the normal cameras around the track had a harder time following the cars threw every corner, they did gave the feeling of speed better that today.
In todays coverage and especially in big tracks the cars just don’t seem to be going very fast because of the way they are shown. That’s a very important part of the excitement that has been taken away making people sometimes get even more bored when they don’t see overtakes and battles all the time.
Maybe that’s why everyone speaks of F1 needing more overtakes and all that, when actually the overtakes in the past weren’t that much ether.
Damon (@damon)
20th February 2011, 14:49
YES! That’s the thing.
What they’ve been doing wrong in recent years is that they always zoom onto the drivers’ cockpits, especially when the cars are in the corners.
This kills the whole thing: it doesn’t convey the speed of the cars, and makes it unimpressive and boring.
I hate it.
J Gregory
21st February 2011, 1:39
I agree, my girlfriend always say “they don’t look very fast” but when you go to a race the speed is awesome. It’s not hard to display the speed and skill, TV producers should watch a few Nascar or Indycar races….
Pika
21st February 2011, 13:18
100% agree. Those zooms are the problem.
mr. t
25th February 2011, 14:31
the teams could probably charge sponsors a whole lot more with new camera angles too. take the second clip from the nose for example, you hardly ever notice the CASIO sponsorship on the car on a regular race weekend
SennaNmbr1 (@)
20th February 2011, 10:10
Rear view mirrors look stable enough to me at high speed.
Feynman
20th February 2011, 14:25
The camera is bolted to the same piece of structural bodywork that the wing mirror is bonded to.
That was never the main problem, it’s the difference between the wing mirrors and the bag of meat getting knocked around the cockpit, head and neck especially. Standing full on the brakes pulls the tears from your eyes, none of that really shows up in a fixed camera mount.
mattg21 (@mattg21)
20th February 2011, 10:14
That is music to my ears.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
20th February 2011, 10:20
As funky as some of those vews are, I don’t think I could watch them being used for long. Except maybe that side-along shot of the driver, particularly if he’s duelling with another.
BasCB (@bascb)
20th February 2011, 11:02
I would like the view to the back, for a car being overtaken. You can see the whole of the action right until the passing car gets parallel with the car being passed.
That would get rid of this gap we now have between seeing a following car go out of view in the rear camera view to seeing it in the roll hoop camera in front.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
20th February 2011, 11:22
Yeah, the rear-facing view is okay. It’s just the ones that are mounted at odd angles that feel too weird to watch for long.
US_Peter (@us_peter)
20th February 2011, 19:39
I kind of like the one from the sidepod. You could see Vettel in his rear view mirror, and you could see what he was doing on the steering wheel. The view from the rear wing forward was really fascinating just to see how disturbed the airflow is by the time it reaches that part of the car. The whole image almost looks underwater. That angle would be unsettling to watch for very long.
NeoBuggy
20th February 2011, 10:34
Pretty sure the cameras used are from GoPro – used them quite a lot in RC Racing due to small size and weight. V neat product
UneedAFinn2Win
20th February 2011, 10:52
That looks awesome. I love the fact that we have rubber in the cars where you can see the wear again, I remember that used to be one thing to look out for at the end of races “back in the day”.
And DSR, well,this is the first time I had a really good look at it in action and it is going to fail on somebody this year, or at least we are going to get that excuse from someone going out in a high speed corner.
I can just picture Eau-rouge, going flat, pushing for KERS but hitting the DSR…
US_Peter (@us_peter)
20th February 2011, 19:42
That could only happen in practice or quali though, since the DSR is only unlocked in the right circumstances in the race, which won’t include places like Eau Rouge.
Fixy (@)
20th February 2011, 11:16
I guess the rear camera will be used more often to show the DRS in work.
TCSC47
20th February 2011, 11:29
Just taking the chance to leave a comment for the TV producers. On board shots are great for this purpose of seeing what the car does, but please don’t over-use them, (as you do!) for racing.
“Here comes Vetel from behind!”—- “There he goes off in front!” “Hmm-m. Wonder what happened and how he set up that move!”.
Overtaking manoeuvres are rare enough as it is, without them being continually messed up by the producers.
Herman
20th February 2011, 11:50
Flexi nosecone? Check from 4:40, hold your finger on the screen at the top of the nosecone…Something is flexing
RSWF1
20th February 2011, 12:12
the camera mount…
DCman (@)
20th February 2011, 18:27
I think that’s the suspension movement. If you hold your fingers over the outside elements of the front wings before he leaves the garage and follow all the way through you can tell there is definite movement in the wings.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
20th February 2011, 11:54
Great video. The DRS shift seems less ‘dramatic’ than the Sauber one? Probably just the angle of the shot though.
TomKix
20th February 2011, 12:22
Watching this made me realise something. The steering wheel rises higher than the line of the cockpit when turning. Surely that seriously interrupts airflow over that part of the car. I’d have thought they’d have developed a diverter or something to minimise it’s protrusion into the airflow
Shimks
20th February 2011, 12:45
Really excellent. It would be cool if the FIA made in compulsory for all cars to have more cameras set up in specific locations. I imagine the technology is so advanced these days that those little lenses and transmitters weigh next to nothing?
Crispin
20th February 2011, 13:43
How about a camera on the drivers helmet?
Aussie Fan
21st February 2011, 3:26
+1, this shows the “speed” factor so much better than anything else..
GeeMac (@geemac)
27th February 2011, 14:40
DC had one of those on his helmet in his last race at Interlagos 08, pity he only made it to turn 2.
electrolite (@electrolite)
20th February 2011, 15:13
The one is about 5.00 is great because the sound isn’t hindered as much by the wind. The camera itself acts as an acoustic shadow so what’s behind it so you don’t get the distortion.
The one before it is bizarre though, never heard an engine sound like that before!
Disgruntled F1fanatic
20th February 2011, 17:47
Oh man that is great footage. It just goes to show what the fans are missing out and what is possible to do when people in charge take the fans into consideration. FOM main reason to exist is just squeezing every last penny out of the sport and Bernie has become a hindrance to F1, he couldn’t care less about the fans. Only this year is F1 broadcast in HD, NASCAR fans have had it for years. How about a Youtube channel, with HD images that are exclusive, behind the scenes action for the fans? How about in car cameras that spin and show different angles to the action in HD? Nah, can’t be bothered. In car footage image definition in F1 today is poor and radio conversations we are allowed to hear is limited at the best of times. I am sorry it turned out to be a bit of a rant, it wasn’t my intention, but it just makes me angry to see our sport at the hands of greedy people who care not a jot about the fans.
Lemon (@lemon)
20th February 2011, 18:24
Its good point you make there, i’ve always thought bernie was a greedy little poison dwarf.
Scoobman
20th February 2011, 18:01
How about a 360 degree angle camera on top of the cars… That shouldn’t be so hard to pull off?
usukpam
20th February 2011, 19:30
Mclaren should follow the trend of the flexi body and wings now and forget runing to FIA while Red Bull and Ferari will be busy gaining seconds on track with it.
John H
20th February 2011, 23:15
Looks great. Shame the V8 sounds like a hair-dryer!
CHCS 82
20th February 2011, 23:55
i remeber in champ car they used to have a camera inside the helmet next to the drivers head. gave some very interesting if a bit bouncy imagary!
Bosco
26th February 2011, 15:34
those wings are not flexing, at least not as much as some of you think, that it a by product of the camera’s and mounts. It is quite common on these small cams. I use them everyday from everything from off road motorcyles, bikes, and on the track and streets in my cars. They are quite awesome, but you do get some waveyness sometimes that appears to be flexing. GoPro HD’s are awesome due to great sounds as well as HD video.
Best purchase I have made in years, just get all of the mounts so you get the full range of use. Chest Mounts are awesome!
pierrauto (@)
3rd March 2011, 19:51
I have assembled picture to show how much the hole front nose including the wing deflect with speed. Left part of the image is car stopped and the right is at high speed. Since I am new to this forum, I don’t know if I can include a picture im my reply or other mean. Please, advise me.