COULD F1 USE RED BULL’S NEW 220MPH DRONE?...

Spectacular footage of a 220mph drone following Max Verstappen’s RB20 around Silverstone proved to be a hit with fans. The drone followed reigning world champion Max Verstappen completing a lap, fresh from his dominant win in Bahrain.

The drone, developed by Red Bull Advanced Technologies, can keep up with F1 cars and provide high-quality footage. It is a significant step forward from current drone offerings and shows much promise.

Such has been the response to the footage, as reported by Autosport, conversations between F1 and the drone manufacturer Drone Gods have begun. However, safety concerns are proving a sticking point.

Is using the drone possible?

Speaking to Autosport, F1 Director of Media and Broadcast Dean Locke confirmed the talks:

“It is really interesting what they have done with it. But it was a private test, and they don’t have to adhere to 90% of the rules that we have to.”

“We are talking to them [about it]. Is it something we could do? What do you do with it?

Locke expanded on the safety concerns, stating flying over a crowd of spectators is not currently advisable: “It is really quick, but you can’t fly over a crowd, and you can’t cross the track. Plus it doesn’t have a moving head, so it’s actually got to follow the car or be to the side. So it’s actually quite tricky.”

“The drone has been amazing for some sports but, for us, it’s still very challenging.” “The speed of cars are still ridiculously fast and 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.”

“We’re working on it, and we had a meeting the FIA [in Bahrain] to discuss some various stuff.”

“We are also doing some work not only speed of drones, but just how light can we go? Can we go incredibly small? So if it does drop, it’s doing very, very little damage opposed to the companies that always approach us with these huge things.”

However, Locke stated that certain tracks could suit the drone, highlighting their long straights: “There are places, like the backstraight in China and the backstraight in Austin, there are a couple of areas where we plan to talk to them about it.”

The Red Bull drone pilot Ralph Hogenbirk was also unclear on the future of drones in F1: “We have no idea where we’re actually going to go from here,” he said. But of course, the goal is to have some livestream capabilities in an actual race or free practice or whatever.”

“To combine this with a Formula 1 circuit in some kind of way. Because it’s specifically built to do that.”