Ferrari has placed a new design of shroud over its onboard camera after being told to stop placing a bag over it.
As RaceFans previously revealed, Ferrari began covering its camera after sensitive parts of its car were accidentally broadcast. The team justified placing a bag containing dry ice over the camera saying it was needed for cooling purposes.Since being told it had to stop using the bag, Ferrari has turned up in Singapore with a special cover over the camera and airbox. It incorporates a pair of tunnels which appear to have a cooling function.
Singapore is one of the hottest race weekends of the year. Air temperatures regularly exceed 30C and high levels of humidity add to the difficulty of keeping cars cool. The working temperature range of the cameras is between 50C and 120C.
Some of Ferraris rival teams had also begun covering their cameras with bags before the practice was stopped. It remains to be seen whether the new structure will be permitted.
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Jelle van der Meer (@)
13th September 2018, 12:28
I really do not understand the FIA – sometimes they act immediately for no good reason and now they do nothing.
Simple directive – it is forbidden to deliberately and for longer periods block the view of the FIA onboard camera’s! Break the rule could lead to grid penalty and/or exclusion.
erikje
13th September 2018, 12:44
Yes, more and very specific rules… NOT.
Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
13th September 2018, 14:02
Theses camera’s are not the FIA’s, but rather the commercial rights holder’s.
Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
13th September 2018, 14:03
*These cameras
Matteo (@m-bagattini)
13th September 2018, 15:13
@proesterchen FOM, IIRC
Patrick (@paeschli)
13th September 2018, 18:59
How do you define ‘deliberately’ and ‘for longer periods’? It would only add more room for discussion
Joao (@johnmilk)
13th September 2018, 12:37
It is idiotic that they accidentally broadcast parts of the car that shouldn’t be broadcasted and then ask teams not to cover the cameras while the car is exposed
dusty (@dusty)
13th September 2018, 12:45
Since when does writing a post with the official explanation that they wanted to prevent the camera for overheating, and then speculating in a paragraph of this post that it could also be partly because of an incident where unwanted moments were broadcasted, counts as “revealing”?
And how much of it is a cooling issue and how much is the reason you have “revealed”, when you are now posting about a new cooling solution for the camera?
Matteo (@m-bagattini)
13th September 2018, 15:15
@dusty previous article was not speculative IMHO: https://www.racefans.net/2018/08/30/why-ferrari-bag-onboard-camera/
Potsie (@potsie159)
13th September 2018, 15:44
Indeed so @dusty . It is clear that the camera is being covered to avoid other teams being able to see sensitive information on the steering wheel and/or the screen (etc) that the driver is looking at in the pits. Covering the camera has nothing to do with cooling it.
I don’t know the facts or the rules relevant here, but it appears a farcical situation to me. The underlying question is “Should the FIA be allowing teams to see other teams data?” If the answer to that is ‘yes’ – then forbid covering the camera, if the answer is ‘no’ then allow all teams to cover the camera (whilst in the garage).
(I think you are hassling Keith a little too much about his article wording – he is only reporting to us some new information, but I think it would have be good to have some additional information in the article on what the present relevant rules actually are, and why they are so)
kpcart
13th September 2018, 13:34
Love this by ferrari, told not to put a simple cheap plastic bag over it, they show up with a complicated contraption. Haha. Conspiracy theorists eat your heart out losers!
hobo (@hobo)
13th September 2018, 13:42
This cannot be right, can it? The cameras only work between Death Valley and more than boiling water temperatures.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
13th September 2018, 14:00
Ha ha, yeah, I noticed that too. I think it was meant to be minus 50 deg C.
Matteo (@m-bagattini)
13th September 2018, 15:16
@phylyp @johnmilk surely °F: 10 to ~50 °C
Joao (@johnmilk)
13th September 2018, 14:30
It would make a bit more sense if it was Fahrenheit
Patrick (@paeschli)
13th September 2018, 19:00
@keithcollantine
Neil
13th September 2018, 14:00
Couldn’t this be solved by a little light on the camera the comes on when the camera is active?
If the camera is not supposed to be broadcasting why does the lens part of it need to be on?
Alastair MacDiarmid (@almacd64)
13th September 2018, 21:02
Almost all these cameras are what we call “iso recorded” to hard disk, therefore they capture everything all the time. So even if it’s not broadcast there is the possibility of it being shown later or somebody else accessing it. Even if it’s not being broadcast live it’s always displayed live somewhere for the broadcast engineers and directors. So just because you don’t see the little red “tally light” doesn’t mean it’s not being watched or recorded.
Jere (@jerejj)
13th September 2018, 15:09
LOL.
Gabriel (@rethla)
13th September 2018, 20:11
You dont need to cool the lense of the camera so this should be banned on the same basis as the bag.
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
13th September 2018, 20:57
Hmmm… I wonder how much this contraption cost in design and construction… good old Formula One!
Todfod (@todfod)
14th September 2018, 8:31
I think Ferrari are going a tad too far with their contraption .. lol. Although, I wonder what’s so sensitive that they want to hide it? I’m guessing something on the steering wheel. Fishy fishy Ferrari…
BlackJackFan
14th September 2018, 15:53
I don’t understand why any team should allow ‘spying’ in this way… maybe other than when the car is on the track… and then maybe drivers can wear caps… lol.
Why not just have a switch on the camera, with all cameras being switched on before the mechanics clear the grid…?