Do F1 Driver Helmet Designs Mean Anything Anymore?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 มิ.ย. 2024
- Given how often F1 drivers change their helmet design, whether that's every year or race by race, I sense it may have diluted the importance and impact that a design should have. So let's answer the question Do F1 Driver Helmet Designs Mean Anything Anymore?
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Is there a modern design that stands out for you?
Lance's Wing helmet.
Lewis Hamilton's Purple Helmets. Iconic.
Sargeant's is consistent. As is Stroll's. Norris's has been mostly consistent before 2024, but he abandoned the classic Norris logo on his helmet in 2024. Vettel nailed his design after leaving Ferrari. One could argue his Ferrari & Aston helmets have become iconic and synonymous with Seb's brand.
I think that the colour scheme of Fernando’s is one for the history books especially in his winning years
Vettel's white with German flag design.
I'm still watching the video, but one that comes to mind immediately is Sebastian Vettel's helmet. I think his white and german flag helmet, to me anyway, is really iconic
Fully agree but he did tinker with it a fair bit. Still a huge improvement over his Red Bull helmets
@@thegridgab true. During his red bull days he was really playing around with the helmets but I think after the ban came enforced he settled with a proper "iconic" helmet which I believe he still uses to this day
Remember when Vettel would retire a helmet design every race win?!
Shame he didnt have it and stick with is from the beginning
I'd argue Fernando's design is fairly iconic as its mostly the same as his old Renault design, just with new sponsors
It is, he's done some playing around with different designs and colours but glad he's back with his current one. Modernised version of the classic
My problem is not only how they constantly changing, but how almost every helmet on the current grid seems to be designed by the same person, they all features very similar lines and layout, and most of the time the complexity of the designs made it even harder to distinguish one from another.
Take off the sponsors and it's very hard
I think Alonso's helmet is more "evolving" than "replacing", and then, his helmet got quite iconic
I wonder if it was the influence of Valentino Rossi that started it. Rossi changed his helmet frequently and apparently had 72 different helmet designs across his career. Of course for a motorcycle racer this was commercially smart as it meant he could sell multiple replica helmets for his fans to wear when they rode their own bikes.
Rossi commercialised his helmet and the different iterations and I suspect this was what brought it to the attention of car drivers who started to follow suit.
I think changing the helmet all the time means the driver cannot use their helmet as a branding logo like Senna's helmet is used by the Senna Foundation. However, I suspect the reality is that with social media the money made from merchandise pales in comparison to the money that social media presence creates and that selling a few less T Shirts is more than offset by the additional hits from releasing new helmet footage on a semi regular basis.
Of the last 10 years i think the most iconic designs have been JB, Alonso, Vettel ferrari, Massa, Norris standard helmet pre 2024 (Rossi inspired), Hulkenburg Renault
You summed up my thoughts on this perfectly and it's what I've been saying on countless helmet forums and whatnot. To me the start of a new season was always a thrilling moment, especially when drivers moved to a different team, trying to anticipate how their helmets would work with the different livery and sponsors. Now it really doesn't matter anymore. As you said, Hamilton will probably come up with something completely different for his stint at Ferrari, devoid of any personality or individuality. It's like Bottas these days. He had a simple and somewhat iconic helmet at Williams and for a while at Mercedes, but then he completely lost it and now it's just a random freak show. To an extent, it's a bit baffling that the drivers themselves don't understand how powerful it is to have an identifiable helmet, especially when we see them in tributes like they did to Senna, when basically a yellow t-shirt with a blue and a green stripe instantly evoked the memory of the Brazilian. How is it possible that they don't just look at their own helmets and think "Yeah, mine doesn't really do that, does it?" Strangely enough, the only driver who seems to have understood how powerful having and identifiable helmet design can be is actually the one who started this whole mess in the first place - Sebastian Vettel - when he opted for his minimalistic design at Ferrari. Other than that, it's just a bunch of generic Formula-1 game helmets. What a shame...
I also looked forward to seeing familiar Helmets with new sponsors
I totally agree.
So many iconic helmet designs that remain in our memories, something that no longer happens today: Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost and many others that weren't even from winning drivers but that I remember perfectly the design of theirs helmets, such as Eddie Cheever or Maurício Gugelmin.
It is a shame that this identity of the pilots has been lost.
Olivier Grouillards, Mauricio Gugelmin and Roberto Morenos were some of my faves
They all mean something to the drivers that's the point? It's like the only thing they have control over when it comes to visually representing themselves.
I think with all the trappings of media, promotion and social media, there is huge pressure to continously change
They cant mean that much when they completely change the design at a whim. And they all use the same generic 'swoosh' shapes. Lame
one helmet that will always stand out to me is Schumacher's all red design. Not only bc it helped distinguish him from Barrichello, but specially bc you could feel his power and unstoppable nature coming from it. And the way it looked in a Ferrari felt like it was HIS team
Also, red is in the middle of the German flag!
Hello, amateur helmet designer here :D Id like to give my grain of salt on the matter:
I've done 300+ something helmets at this point over the course of 3 or so years. And ive studied plenty what goes on old vs new helmet design.
Old helmets as you mentioned were based highly on nationality: Schumi's germn flag, Buttons British JB or Nando's Spanish/Asturias flag. The idea back then was to make an iconic shape that was yours. A.e Senna's double striple or Hunt's red/yellow/blue rectangle extra points on Hill's club helmet.
Now when did this all stop or change? Around 2006, exactly on Alonso's helmet. The 06' design only carries the colors from 05' but scrapped the whole design, going from rectangular shapes to a whole scaddadle of shapes. Why did this happen? I dunno but i think this is where the "modern" design language emerged atleast in f1. Gotta take into consideration livery design as a whole was getting and evolution around this era and driver probably wanted to keep up with the times.
Nowadays helmets rather than use nationality and color as identifiers, use the shapes of the design. Good example is Leclerc or Lando, who would change up the colors and style but would keep the same design, base shapes of the helmet. Granted this mentality was likely born from 2010s Vettel but can't negate that it makes each helmet scheme unique. I can see Vettel with that white astronaut helmet and think "Oh that was Bahrain 2013" or Lando with his "Pizza" helmet and thing "Yea thats an italian round" and so on. But i will say teams probably play a part on pushing the driver on certain countries to get a special lid. I highly doubt Leclerc cares much about American football to put it on his whole helmet for Austin 2023...
One thing i liked you mentioned was evolution and thats 100% correct! Take a look at Russel's helmet, the design itself has been kept the same, but ever since his Mercedes stint he's been changing it bit by bit. Same with Charles on his Ferrari stint since 19'. Personally i like that the driver evolves his design with themselves, helps separate year from year even if the changes are minimum. One good example is Hamilton's helmet, you can look up "Lewis Hamilton helmet evolution" on google and you'll find a list with his whole helmet evolution.
His design evolved from his karting days to his last year with McLaren in 2012, and when joining Mercedes in 2013 he updated the whole design while keeping the main idea from his old one. Eventually it would evolve to what we have today, but if i had to take a bet, I'd say Lewis wanted this Mercedes stint to be a new start for him hence he changed it. Eventually playing into making his own color scheme using the purple. Since he used yellow as his color for Senna. Eventually merging both.
I rambled too much here but i hope it helped more on the info regarding each modern/old design philosophy :D
Very interesting take
I agree. The current helmets are not memorable, too busy and change constantly. Does the constant change have anything to do with the collectors market for mini helmets and diecast cars? They can probably sell more if there are more variations.
Good point, have to shift that merch!
Modern designs suck.
I remember thinking that Schummaher starts were too much. I was a fool.
Yup, that’s called history and heritage, something F1 and Liberty Media have thrown out the window in this DTS era of our beloved sport.
Just something so cool about those classic designs
Typical for americans..
I haven't seen evidence that this change has been driven by DTS or Liberty Media. As @Clips_Culture said in the video, this is a trend started by Redbull and gradually adopted since. I'm not saying you should be a fan of DTS or Liberty, but I don't to see how either of those entities have contributed to the current state of helmet design. But I'm happy to change my mind if you have examples.
I don't know if the shift has been driven by drivers, helmet artists, or the teams. If you follow the top helmet designers and painters on IG, you'll notice that their designs have largely converged. They are very complicated, intricut, and busy. While brilliantly executed, they are difficult to distinguish from a distance. They look great on Instagram, but are indistinguishable on TV. There are exceptions. But it seems as if the emphasis is now on showcasing the artist's skill with intense detail, rather than creating an iconic brand emblem.
I love Yuki's helmets! The leaves are so memorable and unique to him, I love that theyre always a detail included for his designs
He has some good ones
I think Max Verstappen still does it okay. He changes the colors on the helmets often enough, but mostly sticks to the same design (which itself was based on his father’s helmet design) with the same lion logo on top. Since the top of the helmet is all you see these days, it’s still recognizable for that, no matter what the rest of the design looks like.
I think that’s the key here, you need a single element that’s consistent throughout. Whether it’s a color theme or a logo doesn’t really matter, just something individual that you can see and identify the driver with.
In fairness Max does stick to a theme
I remember the first time I saw Jackie Stewart wear (I think 🤔) a small Scottish flag on the chin bar. That was first time I began to connect drivers and nationality. Cool vid 👍👍🏁
Cheers!
Esteban ocons helmet perfectly represents who he is as a driver compared to Pierre’s, it’s a dark and brooding design which perfectly juxtaposes gaslys light and happy helmet
I wasn't happy when FIA scraped the one helmet design for a year rule (plus one special eg for home race)
Daniel Ricciardo's Renault helmets were great, simple and outstanding
Too much potential profit involved
If I had to point the start of this trend on anyone I’d actually put it on kimi. He always had a rather complex design and although he kept the design on the top somewhat the same the colours changed quite often. I don’t mind the one off helmets but I’d like to see the main helmets become more simplified again
Interesting point
Verstappen's has been relatively similar in his championship years so I reckon his is pretty iconic. The red lion and the Dutch colours with the red stripes.
Finally someone with the same opinion on modern helmets as me.
I started watching in the mid-1990s and also missed classic helmets with simple but elegant and *easily recognisable* designs.
I love Landos Modern design. Its different from the usual baseline designs. It has impact imo because it stands out amongst the others.
I also liked his Japan GP and Monaco GP helmets this year as well. I don't think Modern Helmets are bad in the slightest, in fact I think I prefer them.
I fell Lance stroll’s helmet stands out pretty well as he’s had it for a while not with very minimal changes. It also is fairly simple compared to a lot of the other helmets on the grid which all have sharp coloured lines.
Same with bottas’ helmet which I do like but he has had for less time than Lance. If he keeps it it will also probably become one of my faves aswell
It's an interesting topic because although I agree I also like the fact that drivers express themselves (if they want) by either evolving their helmets or doing a theme (such as Max for the European round with an orange helmet.) But then there is also a part of me which is like there isn't a helmet that comes to mind when you think of drivers these days. I guess Max has the same style but it constantly changes colours etc.
That's genuinely something I miss, there is something about saying a red and white McLaren with a yellow helmet. In the same way the helmets of Mansell, Prost, Schumacher, Hakkinen and many more were iconic.
If a schoolboy can't reproduce a driver's helmet in his copybook, the design has failed.
Edit: it appears that I quoted David Coulthard here, but the statement still stands.
That's the one
0:48 literally an "Old design", Max current "default" helmet during this season is a redesign of his dads old helmet. The additions his dad didn't have are the sponsor decals. I mean, I sort of agree with the overall message of your video but you couldn't have chosen a worse example than Max current helmet which is literally an iconic design (at least for the Dutch race fans)
Yeah he's going down the family route
I'm not a huge supporter so didn't clock it
I thought I was the only one who got a bit bored with the constant changes.
Join the club!
6:28 yup used to do exactly this, some helmets literally he won a race in his first race with it and we never saw them again lol
Good so it's not just me!
If there is a King of changing Helmet Designs its Sebastian Vettel in His Red Bull Days. The Rainbow swirl Helmet at Abu Dhabi 2011 or The LED Helmet from Singapore 2012 or The White and gold from Germany 2012 have been basically engraved into my memory, they Just were so beautiful
Also his Ferrari designs where he had the white base with the german flag stripe. It had the potential to really be iconic
Yeah it really did
Piastri seems to be the only driver to keep it constant, Magnussen had the same design for ages which I loved but radically changed his helmet this year due to their açaí sponsors
I'm a modernist and a minimalist graphic designer. Of course, I prefer old school helmets to today's intricate displays.
However, it's not particular to F1. Football player boots have gotten gaudy, and if you want the closest analog in sports, my bet is on NHL goaltenders (compare Ken Dryden, Gilles Meloche, Martin Brodeur and John Vanbiesbrouck's Panthers mask to today's airbrushed monstrosities). Supergraphics of the 60's and 70's have clearly lost out to mural/graffiti art.
I'll caveat that I think drivers should be able to pick their own meaningful designs, however intricate and tasteless they might be, but I'd like to make a case for the minimalist, simple shaped helmets, on the following bases:
1. Driver helmets are frequently seen at very high speed. Details get lost very easily.
2. I've been advocating for cars of the same team to be easily graphically distinguishable (though, say, different colored halos, wings, noses, etc). Right now, we only have the tiny t-cam color and minuscule driver numbers. Helmets used to be an extra way, which is lost.
3. They just plain look better (sorry not sorry).
4. You mentioned branding; I'd argue that it's a reason in favour of keeping your design forever. Lewis Hamilton had roughly the same mid design for his first 7 years; it wasn't exceptional, but it would so clearly be part of his trademark branding, had he kept it. Your brand will never be iconic if you keep changing it every other month.
Actually this year's Max design is directly basen on Jos design. But that's just an exception in current F1 grid.
The best helmet designs are Ronnie Peterson, Mario Andretti, Ayrton Senna and Nelson Piquet's. Fittipaldi's was pretty good too, but really, there weren't too many great designs. Modern designs don't mean anything, even if they did keep them the same, they're far too busy and from a distance, they don't stand out. Two or three colours, with two or three separations, is all they should have.
I think a lot of it has to do with current generation having an attention span of a gnat thanks to social media. You can’t stick with one particular design and just enjoy it. You quickly get bored of a design or colour scheme. You’re easily influenced by seeing other designs and need the attention of unveiling something new for the social media likes.
I don’t mind when a driver sticks with a core design, but has some minor updates and tweaks, a lot like Lando Norris up until this season! His old design was iconic for his career and instantly recognisable. I’m not a fan of his latest lid…
I grew up watching Senna, Mansell, Coulthard, Hill, Hakkinen and was that kid who would doodle the helmets on the back of my schoolbooks. I’d buy stickers with the helmets on and put them on the back of my bedroom door… I’m not sure any driver these days has a truly iconic design to call their own. I don’t think any of the current drivers have a helmet this year that looks anything like the one they used when they broke into F1
Yeah its all a bit switcheroo
I never watched in an era where helmets were a huge defining factor in a driver's identity. What I always immediately think of is the driver's number as a part of their image. Perhaps its filling a similar role as a part of the driver's identity that doesn't change.
Just a changing of the times
Good point
Long time ago you could distinguish the drivers. Now its crazy.
Too many "special" editions.
Always a tough drawing a JYS helmet - silly tartan
Since I became a fan back in 2010/11, Lewis' yellow Vodafone helmet always stood out to me amongst the rest of the grid and for me will be his most iconic.
I was so sad to see it go in 2014 but it was nice to see it kinda brought back even if only briefly in 2017.
What do you think of the current?
I think ultimately one of the reasons Lewis changed it was that his original yellow helmet was essentially a modernised Ayrton Senna helmet and he got sick of the comparison as he was by then a top driver in his own right.
Sorry, i will start with "as a graphic designer..." One of the most important rule to create a design is "what is the application?" and the application dictates the distance between you and the image, and also the context. Fast moving thing (Hockey, F1) or competitive surrounding (supermarket alley). F1 is both seen from a distance AND fast moving AND visually competitive. So, yes, if a child canno't draw your helmet, it's crap. overcomplicated generic designs may be nice standing still from 1 meter or less, so drivers are delighted, but in terms of branding, it's a missed opportunity to stand out. And NO LEGACY for them. Only Norris kept a recognisable shape, but even he moved to the strange (but very cool TBH) pattern. Sorry, way too long, but again "I'm a graph..."
1:36 i'd choose the 2021 black & purple wing design
For me, it's the helmet of Takuma Sato. As he has kept his helmet desing the same throughout his racing history (except for sponsors).
I must say, Sato's one was good
just yesterday i was looking at Sergio Perez's designs.
There's no signature, no identity, nothing. It can be anybody's helmet.
Alonso and Hamilton seems to be the last ones actually keeping at least some form of pattern to their designs.
If Perez, Ricciardo and Bottas aren't, of course the younger ones aren't either.
Helmet Marko
Nice work
Today’s helmets are a complete mess.
I agree that Seb startet the whole thing with the constant canging of helmet designs but he is also the most recent driver to have an iconic helmet design
Yes that white one was great
Excellent vid!! U exactly said how I'm feeling. This trend of drivers changing helmet designs race in race out makes it legit difficult to identify who's who. I remember when I was an infant I drew helmets in the exact designs of the schumacher bros, hakkinen, coulthard, barrichello and fisichella etc all because they were regular and simplistic. My god social media is ruining the sport.
I feel that Hamilton’s helmet has evolved with him as a driver. When subtle changes are made, it’s still almost always identifiable as Lewis. The exception is when he does stuff like wear a rainbow in the Middle East lmao (amazing troll)
Wonder what he'll do at Ferrari
@@thegridgab Probably more of the same yellow+black+purple with a Ferrari logo instead of Merc. I can see it looking good actually. Always liked how his helmet started off as a Senna tribute but morphed into his own.
i find that i enjoy helmet designs that are basic and adjusted to each race. older helmets relied heavily on a driver’s culture/heritage with meaning to the driver. newer themed helmets are catered to the fans and culture of each race location. like you had mentioned, its about branding. helmets very rarely are seen in the cockpit of the car but just paraded on social media as appreciation for fans. f1 is focused on fan culture very heavily nowadays so it would make sense why fans are the priority with impressing like with fun or unique designs for that grand prix’s culture. it’s a shame sponsorships and logos have become the forefront of the helmets as well which limits the design overall
my favorite current helmets are definitely lando’s and yuki’s. lando’s new helmet is simplistic, original to himself (instead of rossi’s), and shows his fun and bold personality. yuki’s helmet is another simplistic one with the Japanese maple leaves as homage to his home country.
Times just change don't they
Ironically the last trully iconic helmet is Vettel's post RB one.
True, that was good
While I don’t find many modern designs too memorable. The one you have in the thumbnail, I gotta say, is pretty good. While it’s shapes are complex, the ‘rendering’ is simple. 2 tone. High contrast. The shapes are black, allows the bright colour to take more of the real estate. And there isn’t any noticeable extra rendering details like colour gradients.
Would have lived for it to stick, or at least variations of it.
We'll see if Lando hangs onto it
Very well said. Great video!
Good vid, someone had to say it. 100% agree. Modern design helmets are just doodles and the opposite of iconic. Vettel perhaps being the only exception in occasions.
Bar changing colors or intricate designs around,I say Kimi Raikkonen had a consistent theme or design with his nickname and logo on the top of his helmet. Max Verstappen likewise the same to a degree. Charles Leclerc and Carlos kinda have made changes but we can still see their own theme.
Michael Schumacher Helmet design was iconic for me, the original blue and white with the german flag at the back.
Yes that was a classic
They should wear stackhats
I say in the case of Seb and his Red Bull helmets.. I think he’s one of the few who i can at least accept of taking changing helmets every few races given some of his helmets are well planned,thought out and have a solid meaning or theme behind them such as paying tributes to his team,respecting the host race nation or old races. While I do think his Ferrari helmets more or less represents him but I say Seb and his helmet designs be it Red Bull or Ferrari were very much the one that stood out.
And soon enough, drivers want to apply copyrights to their helmets, so their fans can't take pictures of their helmets anymore! 🥺
They all look so good, that im already or quickly desensitized to their impact! Anyways, i really liked Albon’s morpeko/danganronppa helmet last year!
1 design for Hamilton would be the rainbow flag.
Interestingly, this trend hits other areas too. Team sports like football and most major American sports have alternate jerseys. American sports teams in particular can be pretty egregious these days with so many variants. My possible hot take is it's an effect of marketing schemes designed to emphasize the new and now, which helps to maintain sales throughput. While marketing practices may not have directly influenced or steered the helmet designs of today, it probably conditioned a lot of people to expect it--including the drivers.
I'm certain it's 100% marketing
i actually really like both designs lando has had because it really sticks out in the mclaren
Short answer. No. I picked my design in 1994 and it hasn't changed since.
Cool
When it comes to Lewis Hamilton, he has 2 iconic helmets: Yellow Mclaren, Purpule Mercedes.
Agreed
I like Carlos Sainz helmet. The red and yellow of the Spanish flag is very prominent and its 2 colours that go well together. Apart from that nobody's helmets seem to be easily identified. Its just like the car numbering system, i loved the old numbers where the reigning world champ has 1 and his teammate 2 (or 0 and 2 in Williams 93). There were numbers associated with teams. 11 and 12 Lotus, 27 and 28 Ferrari, 6 and red 5 Williams. Now they have there own number which go across their career. Maybe I am an old fuddy duddy who wishes it was the 80s and 90s again!
Will be interesting to see what he comes up with after Ferrari
Bro max has run the lion for a while and it's I'd say iconic to him, he is called the Dutch lion
Draw it
One driver from the newer generation who has had a mostly consistent helmet design is Charles Leclerc. With a few exceptions, he's mostly kept the red background with the Monegasque flag stripes near the visor.
Most iconic racing helmet has to be VR46. Not F1 but I dint care. 😊
Which one? He had 72 different helmet designs :)
Hmmm the one with yellow on it 😂. No seriously the sun/moon thing is pretty well known around the world.
Lando Norris’ helmets before 2024 seemed to have a relatively samey design trend that I really thought suited him but I don’t like this years one 😭
I thought so too
Great video. I do think that helmets designs have become meaningless, but there are two things, if i recall correctly, need to be mention. I believe there has a recent year that either the FIA or F1 banned drivers changing designs throughout a season. But the ban was lifted shortly after. The other is Checo's helmet. Regardless the overall design, I believe he has always had the Mexican flag on the top of his helmet for every single helmet design.
Yeah Vettel pushed back against the ban
I love helmet designs so much. I do it every year. They have their pre season designs, base, home GP, tributes, charity, varies gp, and sponsored.
Amazing how many
@@thegridgab Well in 2022 there was 162 and 2023 had 146.
I'm obviously a dinosaur - but IMHO, Modern formula 1 and helmet design is a complete mess and I have very little interest anymore
No