Tagged: helmet

Design: Ayrton Senna’s Helmet (1990-ish)

What words could one dedicate to Brazilian legend Ayrton Senna which haven’t been said before? His career was excellently (albeit a tad biased) documented in the 2010 documentary ‘Senna’ (IMDb link) which for many was their first glimpse into the sport. Understandably, Senna’s fanbase (for a non-current driver) equals Schumacher’s. Who could forget his battles with other 80’s legends such as Prost and Mansell. The 1988 dominance of the MP4/4 and the resulting rivalry between Senna and Prost puts even Rosberg vs. Hamilton to shame. Sadly, we lost Senna in...

Design: Gilles Villeneuve’s 1980 helmet

There are hardly more tragic stories than that of Gilles Villeneuve. The Canadian driver drove his first race in 1977 for McLaren, but was picked up by Ferrari for the final two races of the 1977 season. He won his first race in the following 1978 season at his home grand prix. He came close to winning the 1979 championship, but was plagued with problems in the ’80 and ’81 seasons. Then, finally, Ferrari seemed to have built a title challenger for the 1982 season.  After two retirements, Villeneuve came...

Design: Damon Hill’s 1996 helmet

As a young Schumacher fan growing up in the early ’90s, Damon Hill was the antagonist I loved to hate. Not just the infamous ’94 clash in Australia which saw Schumacher take his first WDC, but also the ’96 season in which Hill defeated Schumacher. He gained some of my sympathy when he was booted off Williams for the ’97 season, having to race for Arrows as all other seats at the time were taken. After that, he went to drive for Jordan, but slowly disappeared into obscurity only to...

Design: James Hunt’s 1976 helmet (+extra)

James Hunt will always be seen as the “bad boy” of Formula 1. Not only was he famous for his ‘all or nothing’ attitude on track, his off-track escapades might even be better remembered. Hunt entered F1 in the 1973 season for Hesketh, scoring two podiums in his first season (the first being a third place in my country, the Netherlands!). He took his first victory in 1975 (again in the Netherlands) which earned him a promotion to the McLaren team. During the 1976 season, he had a legendary run...

Design: Michael Schumacher’s 1994 Helmet (+extra)

Michael Schumacher was, and always will be, my hero. I was born in 1991, the year he made his debut. One of my first memories is watching him drive Formula 1 in 1994 and winning the title that year. I had a slot car set by Carrera which came with a poster of him on the podium in the 1993 season which had been on my bedroom door for about 15 years until it finally collapsed. Schumacher went on to win a record seven World Driver Championships: two with Benneton...

Design: Sebastian Vettel’s 2015 Ferrari helmet

Sebastian Vettel is a controversial driver in Formula 1: you either hate him, or love him. Making his debut in 2007 for BMW Sauber as a temporary replacement for the concussed Robert Kubica, Vettel went on to make his full season debut for Toro Rosso in 2008. He scored STR’s first and to date only victory in the soaking wet temple of speed, Monza. He was promoted to Red Bull for the subsequent season, and won his first WDC in 2010, after which he dominated with three more WDC wins...

Design: Fernando Alonso’s 2017 Indianapolis 500 helmet

Fernando Alonso. He’s having a hard time currently with the McLaren Honda in Formula 1. The two-time WDC winner with Renault started his career with Minardi scoring points on his debut. Moved to Renault, ended Schumacher’s reign by dominating the ’05 and ’06 season and left for McLaren. At McLaren, he was pushed out by Ron Dennis in favor of the then new talent Lewis Hamilton, only to return to Renault. He was picked up by Ferrari to replace Raikkonen in order to challenge the Red Bulls – a venture...

Design: Niki Lauda’s 1984 helmet

Niki Lauda is perhaps among the top three of the most famous drivers F1 has had, next to Schumacher and Senna. The Austrian driver entered Formula 1 in 1971 and had his last season in 1985. Not only is he known for the three world titles he achieved during his career and being the only one doing so with both Ferrari and McLaren, he is probably best remembered by his horrible crash at the Nürburgring which left most of his face with third degree burns. The title challenge between him...