F1 car liveries and the overalls of drivers could get pretty mundane for fans to watch as it is the same for every race weekend. The only thing that drivers are allowed to change are their helmet designs, which they often use to good effect.
With the FIA removing the rule that restricted drivers from changing their helmet designs until the 2020 season, several racers have begun to get creative in the past few campaigns. Drivers like Sebastian Vettel not only used to change their helmet designs every season but at times, for different race weekends as well.
But if drivers have always enjoyed experimenting with helmet designs, the question that arises is why would the FIA or someone like former McLaren CEO Ron Dennis ever want their drivers to have the same design. For the FIA, it was about making it easier for fans to identify their favorite drivers, as they felt it would be helpful if their helmet designs were consistent.
However, for Dennis, it was more to do with discipline. Former McLaren driver David Coulthard revealed in a recent interview how Dennis once offered him and his former teammate Mika Hakkinen a whopping $1 million just to get the rights to their helmet designs. Even such a huge offer was rejected, though. But why?
“Because he wanted the McLaren look to be the same for both drivers,” was Coulthard’s reply in an interview with YouTuber Lucas Stewart. “And independently I said no because I had always raced with the Scottish flag. Mika said no [as well]”.
Ron Dennis offered his drivers a lot of money if they were willing to change their helmet design into McLaren’s corporate colors.
David Coulthard, for example, says he was offered 1,5 million pounds, but he refused.
Only one driver accepted, for an undisclosed amount… pic.twitter.com/CnwRkYuahS
— Parc Fermé (@PFF1) May 11, 2020
The 53-year-old added that their outright rejection of Dennis’ offer came as a surprise to the former McLaren CEO, who thought that an offer as big as $1 million would be more than enough to gain control over their helmet designs.
While the rules were much stricter back then around drivers changing their helmet designs in the middle of a season, barring one race of their choice, these designs meant a lot to them, as revealed by Coulthard. The rule back then had a provision for a helmet design change, “if a driver changes team during a championship season”.
However, it was logical that drivers won’t go to such extents, and rather put up with the restrictions. It was only after 2020 that drivers began to experiment with their helmets.
Vettel was the pioneer of F1 helmet design changes
While Vettel was never afraid to, at times, even defy the FIA ban on changing helmet designs during the mid-2010s, he definitely doubled down on his helmet game after the FIA eased the rules. From 2020 to his retirement at the end of the 2022 season, he often changed his helmet designs to pay tributes and issue important messages.
As promised. All Seb’s helmet designs since 2005.#sv5 #vettel #f1 #formula1 #DankeSeb #AbuDhabiGP pic.twitter.com/sZt3FAZBWi
— F1 Helmets (@F1HLM) November 20, 2022
For example, at the 2020 Turkish GP, Vettel added a pride rainbow design on his helmet to promote the idea of social diversity and inclusion. Meanwhile, at the 2022 Canadian GP, he sported a controversial helmet design that accused the North American nation of “Climate Crime“, for which he received immense backlash.
The same year, Vettel also paid a heartwarming tribute to legendary F1 driver Ayrton Senna, 30 years after his tragic passing, by sporting the late Brazilian’s iconic design. However, since the German driver is such a staunch advocate for protecting the environment as well, he decided to add a nice touch to his helmet design.
Speaking of it, he said, “Ayrton has such striking colors, he means so much in Brazil, so we thought, let’s build a helmet, but not just build a helmet, let’s do it differently and emphasize another topic, which is the environment and waste management”. So, Vettel decided to make his helmet with recycled materials.
