Max Verstappen against the fastest drone in the world: the Red Bull video that inflames F1 fans

The circus of Formula 1 opens this weekend with the Bahrain Grand Prix and nineteen drivers who will have a common goal, to beat the Dutchman Max Verstappenthree-time champion and great favorite to reach the “tetra” aboard his Red Bull. In the meantime, in the absence of serious contenders, the Dutchman enjoys competing against a drone, the fastest with an on-board camera and designed by his own team.

This was shown in a video broadcast by Red Bull Racingrecorded on the trail of Silverstone 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 very high speed.

In the midst of the scandal with Christian Horner and awaiting the results of the open investigation Red Bullthe team of Verstappen and Checo Pérez surprised the world with a presentation worthy of their dominance in the category.

“This is Formula 1 as you’ve never seen it before,” reads the presentation made by Red Bull as the RB20 completes a complete lap. This is the world’s first continuous FPV (first person) single shot and was captured by a custom-built, manually flown drone. It was designed specifically for the challenge of keeping up with Verstappen’s car, with speeds that the Austrian team said exceeded 300 kilometers per hour.

The video shared by Red Bull explains well how the process led to this sensational result that combines technology and passion for Formula 1. For more than a year the team has been working with Dutch dronescompany specialized in this type of aerial technology.

After practicing with the former pilot David Coulthardappearing behind the wheel of the RB8 used in the 2012 season, the drone company has begun developing this engineering marvel capable of accelerating twice as fast as a Formula 1 car and reaching 300 kilometers per hour in just 4 seconds , reaching a maximum speed of 350 kilometers per hour.

Once the drone was ready, and with its “pilot” already ready to test himself against Verstappen, the great race was ready for the “Filming Day”, the day chosen by each team to show their vehicles on the track, an initiative which ended up being imposed on calendars for marketing purposes.

Despite the wet track conditions that Silverstone presented, the images captured are stunning and have fired up Formula 1 fans, who can enjoy never-before-seen shots of a car of such high quality and at such speed.

The setting has its own mystique: Silverstone was the circuit where the first Grand Prix in the history of the category was held, in 1950, and seeing Verstappen now cover its almost 6,000 meters continues to project F1 to futuristic levels.

“I never thought I’d see a drone go 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 get into corners, how he was cornering. “He 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 run on a calendar that will have 24 circuits in 2024. The Dutchman has won three consecutive world championships since 2021 and the latest one was the easiest for him, as he added a total of 575 points, doubling the score of the runner-up, his teammate, the Mexican ‘Checo’ Pérez, and which saw him win nineteen of the twenty-two races of the competition.