See what an F1 driver really sees while racing

As much as we may wish otherwise, the vast majority of those reading this will never find themselves behind the wheel of a Formula 1 race car. And even if they did, actually piloting one of these beasts at speed around a real race track (video games don't count) is a practice best left to the professionals.

This being the case, the closest you're likely to get to seeing what it's really like to drive an F1 car is by watching the video after the break. Lucas di Grassi, formerly a driver for Virgin Racing and now the official test driver for Pirelli, strapped an eye-level camera to his helmet and set out for a lap at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain.

According to di Grassi, driving with such an apparatus affixed to his head wasn't an easy task. "I had to drive with only one eye open as the camera was blocking my other eye, quite tricky," he said. We bet. See it all shake down after the break.