Formula 1's cool new onboard cam shows just how scary the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix can be

• A new helmet cam gives viewers a better sense of what it is like to drive an F1 car.
• The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix has a track design that adds another level of difficulty.

Driving a Formula One rocket on wheels is scary enough, but this week's Saudia Arabian Grand Prix track adds another layer of difficulty that makes it look even scarier from the perspective of the new visor cam.

The Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Saudi Arabia has walls and fences that hug both sides of the track. This means drivers must negotiate 27 blind turns at nearly 200 mph (322 KPH).

Those walls look intimidating enough when seen through the cameras on top of the cars. That vantage point, from which one can see the top of the wall and through the fencing, is still significantly higher than the real perspective of the driver sitting low in the cockpit.

Now, though, F1 has given us the new visor cam, which shows us what the drivers see from inside the car, giving the viewer at home a better sense for how fast the cars are going.

During the practice session for the Saudi Arabian GP, F1 TV went on board with Lando Norris of McLaren.

You can see that Norris is not only navigating blind turns at ridiculous speeds, but he must do it while bouncing around in the cockpit with the blind spots from the halo above his head and the glare of the sun (which the announcers say is not as bad as it appears).

The blind turns are especially dangerous because the drivers are going in trusting there won't be a slow or stopped car on the other side.

This happened during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix practice in 2021 when Nikita Mazepin of Haas nearly smashed into the back of Lewis Hamilton, who had slowed down.