Is this the world’s best F1 shot?
Red Bull came to us with an idea: Give audiences a never-before-seen F1 shot
Picture this: It's February 2024, and the Formula 1 hype is real. Oracle Red Bull Racing has just revealed RB20, the season is fast approaching, Drive to Survive S6 is dropping, and Red Bull’s given you a 15-minute slot with three-time world champion Max Verstappen to film a full lap of Silverstone in one take with an FPV drone—in the rain.
No pressure.
Now, this wouldn’t be our first foray into FPV. Following the success of our award-winning Valparaíso YouTube film with Red Bull, their most engaged project of 2022, we teamed up with them and Dutch Drone Gods again to capture the seemingly impossible.
With Valparaíso, we provided a never-before-seen perspective of the world’s wildest mountain bike race. So, if we've already claimed the "world's best FPV drone shot", why not try to do one better? When it comes to sports at their absolute pinnacle, is there anything more exhilarating or a bigger challenge than Formula 1?
Then came the question from Red Bull: Would it be possible to develop a drone to follow an F1 car around a racetrack and capture a full, uninterrupted lap?
Sure, the world of motorsports is ambitious, but this had never been achieved in F1 before.
The sky’s the limit
Looking back to a year ago, we began meticulously planning to make sure everything would run smoothly, working alongside the expectations of key stakeholders and the monumental logistics required to line up drivers, teams, race circuits, fast drones, shoot plans, edit plans, and a super fast turnaround. Documenting the journey along the way was key to creating a compelling narrative to live on Red Bull’s global YouTube and social media channels.
With years of experience creating multi-million-view YouTube films, we worked with Red Bull to develop a narrative guaranteed to thrive on the platform.
So, we didn't just focus on capturing that one crucial shot but also on building a solid foundation for the story, using our insider knowledge of how viewers engage with content to plan a fast-paced narrative that would keep them hooked from start to finish line. By creating a well-crafted final edit that appeals to the YouTube algorithm, we knew we would give an already breathtaking story the best chance of success.
Enter the world’s fastest FPV drone
The teams involved had to consider several factors while developing the drone, such as its speed, duration, and ability to chase the fastest F1 driver in the world. While many fast drones exist, we needed one that could keep up with Max Verstappen for an entire lap. No biggie.
Speed: Could it match the speed of an F1 car
Battery life: Could the drone last a full lap at top speed?
Temperature: How do we keep it from overheating in the air?
Aerodynamics: How do we develop a drone that can manoeuvre in the air the same way an F1 car handles the tarmac, maintaining sight of Max for a whole lap
Dutch Drone Gods had the challenge of reimagining what an FPV drone could do. It's the first time anyone has built one like it, so many were sceptical about whether they could achieve it.
Undeterred, they got to work prototyping, testing, and evaluating different approaches to making it. Custom parts, back-and-forths, managing expectations, and getting serious about the project were all early stages of this ambitious endeavour.
It's one thing building the world's fastest FPV camera drone; it's another to get the shot.
The heat is on (literally)
September arrived, and Dutch Drone Gods were ready to test a prototype against reserve driver Liam Lawson in the RB19, the fastest car on the F1 grid. The drone was ready, the conditions were perfect, and it was time to put theory into practice. Will the battery last? Will it burst into flames?
The early morning testing went well as we approached our first of two laps with Liam. However, just before the RB19 hit the track, unexpected issues arose, casting doubt on the attempt.
The team worked tirelessly to overcome the problems, and just in time, we were ready for our flying laps with the RB19. The drone's flight delivered a groundbreaking world–first moment: a single, unbroken FPV shot following an F1 car. Yet, technical gremlins persisted, leading to an intermittent signal loss, and we had to abort run two.
The question remained: Would the drone be ready for that one-chance, one-shot lap with Max Verstappen?
Visiting Red Bull Advanced Technologies (RBAT) to add the finishing touches, they utilised F1 engineering methods and materials to finesse the drone, trying to help match what an F1 car can do on the ground—but in the sky. Finally, after a year of trial and error, pre-production, and endless back-and-forth, the drone was ready.
Watch the hero film here and find out if it was all worth it.
Spoiler—it was.
