Alonso wants to bring visor-cam to F1

Joas van Wingerden Monday 22 October 2018 18:21

Fernando Alonso hopes he will be able to make history by giving Formula 1 fans a driver's-eye view of on-track action before he quits the sport at the end of the year. The McLaren driver has revealed that a request to mount a camera to his helmet at the United States Grand Prix was turned down by F1.

Visor cameras have been used in IndyCar since 2017, giving a truer sense of the forces felt in the cockpit to home viewers.

Liberty Media are reportedly exploring new camera angles, with the traditional cockpit shots now mostly blocked by the halo safety device.

Alonso's helmet manufacturer Bell were keen to bring the technology to the Circuit of the Americas, but any implementation is likely to be held up by safety concerns.

However, Alonso hopes a workaround can be found before the end of the season, to provide a "nice memory" for the end of his F1 career.

"We were thinking to test the camera together with Bell and FOM but at the end it didn't happen this weekend," said Alonso.

"I don't know if it's going to happen in the next weekends. It will be good to experiment.

"Maybe for the last race or something it would be a nice memory to have."

Fans would have had little chance to see race action were Alonso fitted with a new camera in Austin, as he crashed out on lap one after Lance Stroll speared into his sidepod.

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