Thermal imaging casts Formula 1 crash in very different light

Widely considered the pinnacle of auto racing, Formula 1 is no stranger to employing the latest technology in its cars — and occasionally, that technology gets caught up in a fender bender. This weekend’s Italian Grand Prix saw Paul di Resta’s ride get tangled up, but he did so while a thermal imager was set up behind the cockpit, showing the front tires glowing bright orange from abuse on the tarmac. As he makes contact with a driver ahead of him, one of those orange arcs heads skyward. That’s a terrifying view in regular visible light, but when the entire scene is cast in shades of gray apart from some mangled wheels that look like molten iron, it’s scarier than ever. See the crash on video below.

Correction: The original article stated that the tires were glowing bright orange from “lap after lap” of abuse on the tarmac, but the crash occurred on lap 1.