Formula 1 has shared behind-the-scenes footage to show how the drone shots were achieved during the Austrian Grand Prix.
Fans were quick to pick up on and praise the long, swooping shots during the live coverage of the race at the Red Bull Ring, where Mercedes driver George Russell took his second grand prix win of the season. Max Verstappen and Kimi Antonelli completed the podium.
The behind-the-scenes footage shows the high-speed drones being flown alongside the on-track action in Austria, operated from trackside. While the drones cannot fly directly above the cars in case one fails and falls onto the live race track, the machinery still produced some fan-favourite bits of footage.
"Little bit of refinement and this will be excellent. I really like the addition," one fan commented on Reddit, while another added: "The camera shots are quite cinematic and exciting to watch."
"That drone shot on Max and Lewis battling was pure f***ing gold," someone else commented.
Others were mixed in their response to the new approach. "Love the shots, the VER vs HAM battle shots were great. But it’s way too tilted/pitched. Actually makes me feel ill to watch," one fan wrote.
"It’s way too unstable and dizzying for live feed. It captured some amazing shots but those would have been better if it was just cut and edited with proper resolution not the live feed limit, with the wonky movements cut out. Would be great for replays but not for live feed," another commented.
Someone else pointed out: "This is live BROADCAST footage of high-speed action, something a 360 drone is definitely not designed for. It will look weird. It's possible the 360 feed can be stitched and processed by AI with only a few seconds delay, if not now then soon. An FPV drone with a normal front-facing camera will always look like this clip - not bad but not exactly a game-changer for racing broadcasts. And I don't think they'll ever let drones fly directly above the cars."
Drones have previously been used in F1, but it has taken some development to get to the quality seen during the Austrian Grand Prix. At the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix, the first FPV drone was used during the live broadcast, carrying what appeared to be a GoPro.
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Originally published by motorsport.com —
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