Formula 1 continues to evolve, and apart from all the controversy surrounding the FIA, its rules, and its stewards and race directors not following them, the technological aspect and the continued improvement of several spectacular areas provide the fans with incredible content. One of those improvements is the idea of putting cameras on drivers’ helmets (in the interior padding) and giving the fans the chance to witness the circuits just like the drivers see them while racing.
The first F1 helmet-mounted camera as we know it today was worn by Fernando Alonso in the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix, while the two-time champion was driving his Alpine around the longest circuit in the current Formula 1 calendar. In the following event, the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, it was George Russell (driving for Williams) who had the ‘drivers’ eye’ camera mounted on his head safety device and even showed us what a Grand Prix start looked like, as he was wearing the camera during the Sprint event of that weekend.
However, before Alonso and Russell in 2021 and the several drivers who have had helmet-mounted cameras in 2022, it was Mark Blundell who actually started the trend back in the 1994 Belgian Grand Prix, as he wore a helmet-mounted camera.Â
The current camera is 2.5-gram and is inserted into the interior padding of the helmet, and it is developed by Racing Force, a company that also owns the famous F1 helmet brand Bell.Â
Racing Force defines the helmet camera as:
“The Driver’s Eye is the FIA-homologated micro camera (8 millimeters in diameter and weighing 2.5 grams) positioned at eye-level on the protective padding on the inside of the driver’s helmet.”
Last year, the company announced that all drivers who wear Bell helmets in 2022 had the option to equip the F1 helmet cam. The camera is called Driver’s Eye because it is positioned at eye level inside the helmet.
“The technology will be available over the course of the 2022 season to all drivers on the Formula 1 grid who wear a Bell Helmet”, read a statement from the company at the end of the 2021 campaign.
