“I wasn’t too happy”: Zhou Guanyu reveals what he did not like about his helmet cam at Bahrain GP
Follow Us
Guanyu Zhou
The tech-heads at Formula 1 are always coming up with newer innovations to improve the ways of analysing the racers’ performance, the team’s strategies, and so on. The latest development that has been getting quite some attention is the inclusion of “helmet cams” in the F1 Grands Prix. These are some tiny cameras fitted onto the visors of the racers, which would give the audience an eye-level view of the race track from the drivers’ cockpits. The helmet cams also give an idea of the oscillation the racers have to bear with, while switching between the various modes on their cars.
F1 2022 debutant Zhou Guanyu was one of the racers to try out this novelty and the young Chinese did not sound like he was too happy about the helmet cams. He had the camera on during his very first race in Bahrain, where he scored points and joined the elite club of the few F1 racers who have scored points in their debut race itself.
The Alfa Romeo recruit gave the opinion that the view provided by the helmet cam did not give him enough chance to analyze his “driving line”. He also gave his take on newer versions of the helmet cam that are now being used on trial mode, such as the pedal cam that Lando Norris used during the British GP.
Zhou Guanyu did not sound too happy about the helmet cams
As a new entrant into Formula 1, Zhou Guanyu had a lot of studying to do, regarding his driving style and how he could improve it. In order to do that, Zhou needed footage from his first race in Bahrain, but he could not get one with the proper view of his driving line as he was given the helmet cam to try out during the Bahrain Grand Prix. This prevented the racer from getting a full analysis of his performance at the race, which would have been crucial to make sure the Chinese racer did not make the same mistakes in the subsequent Grands Prix.
While speaking on using the helmet cam during his maiden F1 race, Zhou Guanyu said, “I personally prefer when I saw the onboard video that had my normal onboard because it was easier to analyse my driving line.
“But I think it is very cool footage for the teams and especially for the fans. It is more for the audience to see it.
“For the teams, they are changing all the switches and it is less private. These things are good. They had my eye camera for Bahrain and I wasn’t too happy because it was my first race and I was still trying to figure out my best line and they had that. After that it was ok.“
And regarding the pedal cam that F1 has now reintroduced with Lando Norris trying it out during his home race at Silverstone, Zhou Guanyu said, “I saw the pedal cam, that is pretty cool to have – it just shows how much the technical side has improved.”
Do follow us on: Google News | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
Stay Updated!
Riddhi Mondal
(1821 Articles Published)