Forward of his debut run with Ferrari’s 2023 F1 automobile final Wednesday, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton confirmed off his new helmet design for his debut season with the Scuderia. F1Technical’s lead journalist Balazs Szabo takes a have a look at the evolution of the seven-time F1 champion’s helmets.
Lewis Hamilton accomplished his first go to to Ferrari’s Italian headquarters final Monday when he met engineers and the employees on the Scuderia’s F1 division. The Briton then took half in picture capturing on Tuesday earlier than performing work within the simulator.
Hamilton then hit Ferrari’s personal take a look at monitor at Fiorano on Wednesday. Even when climate was removed from perfect, the seven-time F1 champion carried out some set up laps and begin practices earlier than racking up some mileages on slick tyres to finish the day with a complete of 30 laps.
The 105-time F1 race winner was supported by his mom Carmen, his former coach Angela Cullen whereas group boss Fred Vasseur and deputy group boss Jerome d’Amborosio additionally seemed on.
Earlier than driving the Ferrari SF-23 for the primary time, Lewis Hamilton revealed his helmet for the debut, that includes his signature yellow design.
Though many imagine that Hamilton selected the yellow design as a tribute to his hero three-time F1 champion Ayrton Senna, the Briton has revealed that he chosen the livery for a distinct motive.
“I received my very first helmet after I was eight years outdated. It was referred to as FM and it was purple. All the opposite guys had cool helmets, just like the Arai. It was like having trendy sneakers.”
“My father sat down on the desk with me and requested me what colours I needed. He selected the yellow as a result of he was nervous to see me arrive within the nook with 40 or 50 karts and needed to acknowledge me clearly. So he selected yellow, and I accompanied him with purple, blue, and inexperienced.”
Evolution of Hamilton’s helmet designs
Since then, the yellow design has grow to be a key a part of Hamilton’s id in Method One.
Nevertheless, he has had all kinds of helmet design since his arrival in Method One. Hamilton used predominantly yellow shade scheme on his helmets throughout his tenure at McLaren between 2007 and 2012.
When he made the swap from the Woking-based outfit to Mercedes, a comparatively large black strip was added to the highest of the helmet and a mix of inexperienced, purple and blue appeared on its either side.
With the arrival of the hybrid period in 2014, Hamilton’s helmet design modified considerably, with the white color taking on the dominance from yellow. After these three years, the 105-time F1 race winner switched again to primarily yellow design for the 2017 F1 season, however the white color returned in 2018 and 2019.
His color scheme for the 2020 season was a whole departure from the earlier design. The brand new helmet was largely white and purple, and featured six stars – one for every of his F1 championships – in addition to his ‘Nonetheless I Rise’ motto beneath a illustration of Rio de Janiero’s Christ the Redeemer statue.
He carried this design over into 2021, however the yellow color scheme returned in 2022, though it was somewhat a mix of yellow and purple somewhat than a whole yellow design.
His brand-new helmet is a transparent transfer away from the design he used throughout his closing season with Mercedes in 2024, which mixed yellow, purple and black components. The placing yellow crash helmet for the 2025 season matches the Ferrari brand and enhances his purple racing overalls.
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