70 replies to this topic

[castle]

Whats your favourite f1 driver helmet design?

Mine personally is Alex Wurz, its so much more exiting and colourfull than all of the others.

[confucius]

I actually quite like Kimi's, and Schuey's 'new' red lid looks nice with the Ferrari red too. DC's is pretty simple but nice. Can't go past Eddie's for creativeness though.

However, the coolest looking helmets are usually in the GP bike series.

[RV_Canada]

Great topic!!

Personally I have always hated JV's helmet .. the pink is just .. well, you know. I agree with castle, Wurz's helmet is really cool. I also liked EI's old orange one w/ the shamrock on the back. Damon Hill's helmet as a copy of his dad's was good, historically speaking.

[Jumbo]

The worst one has got to be Irvine's tacky Leopard (not even a jaguar.

[philhitchings]

Originally posted by Jumbo
The worst one has got to be Irvine's tacky Leopard (not even a jaguar.

Are you sure? I think you'll find that it is in fact a Cheetah

Best Design I like wurz's its strong line stuff, though Senna's has got to be the most recognisable

[Frans]

Canada 2000 car number 19.

Best helmet ever!!!

:p

[RV_Canada]

Frans, which one do you mean .. first row, second from the left?

http://www.f1-live.c..._montreal.shtml

What is the significance? Or are you just being blinded by nationalistic sentiment?

[Jumbo]

Are you sure? I think you'll find that it is in fact a Cheetah

Took me a while. Good one.

[fifi]

i like Eddie Irvines 1999 helmet

[Scudetto]

Dario Franchitti (sp?) in CART has an interesting design similar to DC's in that it is the Cross of St. Andrews, but the Italian flag unfurls along the bottom, signifying his Scottish-Italian descent.

[Louis Mr. F1]

Mika and Kimi's
Mika's simple but beautiful colour matching and the shining visor.
Kimi's helmet shape and colour matching.

[juanftoro]

I like the one that JPM has with the silver part above and the colors of the Colombian flag around it.

[Dr.Raj]

Great!! I was just thinking of posting this.

My personal favourite is Michael Schumacher's. I didn't really like his old ones which had lots of white. The ones since 2000 are all red, even the region stars on top, I like!!

Another one is Kimi Raikkonen's. It Rocks!!

Well, it looks better from other angles.

Eddie's is nice and creative.

Ugliest: Jacques Villeneuve.

Most boring: Mika Hakkinen.

[troyf1]

I have always thought Prost's helmet was pretty cool. Senna's was great also.

[Rene]

I like Kimi's as well, JV's maybe ugly, but I think its the most recongnizable on the grid (maybe because it is so ugly!)

[madmac]

I always liked Mark Blundells lid with his intials done in a warner bros style. Other than that James Hunt's simple black or Senna's

[LuckyStrike1]

Jean Alesis when he has the chrome/silver thing going. It rocks !

[RV_Canada]

I also like Jenson Button's with the whole JB / Union Jack thing he got goin' on.

[Lephturn]

Jean Alesi's hands down. Crome dome looks cool.

I like Eddie's cat spots too. I figure he painted it to match his shorts.

[king_crud]

Takagi's from a couple of years ago was pretty damn good, and Rubens Brazilian one flag was good too.

[mhferrari]

I liked Schumacher's blue-topped helmet, better than the red top. If he took the "sparkles" out, and the red was more of a solid red, then it would be better.

[mtl'78]

JV's helmet has some ugly colours in it, but one cool thing abou it is it has the same design as his dad's. Both had the stylized "V" on the sides.

I like Schumacher's helmet. Senna had the best though.

[FW11B]

Got to say I always liked Mansells, Union Jack without being Union Jack.

[Ghostrider]

I like Fisi's (maybe biased because he is my favourite) and Kimi's.
The shape and colour of Kimi's is great. The colours of Fisi's I also like.

[tifoso]

I like helmets that are easy to spot when you are at a race. For me that's Alesi, Wurz, and Kenny Brack.

[selena]

I like Schuey's helmet, interesting colour scheme and design.

Mika's helmet is simple but elegant.

EI's helmet is unusual, especially the jaguar face and jaw at the side.

As for the past drivers, Senna has the most distintive helmet, the bright yellow was very outstanding.

[fissijo]

Giancarlo Fisichella's of course!!! it is my fave tho, so easy to spot on the telly, and i love the little blue diamonds on the side like on my avatar!!!!

Yes, i'm horribly biased but i don't care!!!!!! Also quite like Takagis!

[le phantome]

Of the present helmets my favourite is Jacques Villeneuves because I like his choice of colors and simple design. Kimi's helmet seems to be an all round favourite and I agree. Michael's old helmet is also pretty cool.

[brett_sequeira]

eddie irvine is very creative. i like dc's too nice and to the point.

[prettyface]

Mika's is just classy.

[Nustang70]

Originally posted by mtl'78
JV's helmet has some ugly colours in it, but one cool thing abou it is it has the same design as his dad's. Both had the stylized "V" on the sides.

I like Schumacher's helmet. Senna had the best though.

Are you sure? I thought I read somewhere that Jaques was just doodling arbitrarily only to realize he had drawn a "V" shape, liked it, and decided to use it.
(I am not positive, but pretty sure)

I guess I like Irvine's (old and new), Alesi's (he incorporated a mark in memory of Elio de Angelis,whom we both admired, Button's, and the Schumacher brother's when they both had the same elements.

[confucius]

Originally posted by Dr.Raj
Great!! I was just thinking of posting this.

My personal favourite is Michael Schumacher's. I didn't really like his old ones which had lots of white. The ones since 2000 are all red, even the region stars on top, I like!!

Another one is Kimi Raikkonen's. It Rocks!!

Well, it looks better from other angles.

Eddie's is nice and creative.

Ugliest: Jacques Villeneuve.

Most boring: Mika Hakkinen.

Hey Doc, to me Olive's helmet is THE most boring. Kimi's helmet looks better in real life than in your pic cos its got the 'duck bill' bit at the back like Fisi's

[mtl'78]

I've read that as well but if you look at them. Jacques' is the same, just upside down. ( or right side up!)

[orecaviper]

I think that Irvine has the best design for a hekmet. The jaguar on the top looks really cool. Some others that i like is Schumacher, the red helmet looks really good with the red Ferrari. Alesi also has a good looking hemet.

But the worst in F1 has to be Villeneuve's, it is just plain ugly. What's with the pink band on it?

[taran]

I think a good design should have a bold yet simple colour scheme as well as graphics. At speed, you don't see those details anyway.

My favourite is therefore Nelson Piquet's. It had a lovely design and was done in white with red. It suited his dark blue Brabham's and green Benetton's very well.


As to Jean Alesi, he has taken over the design of the late Elio de Angelis. Does anybody know why? Was he a fan, a friend? Did he like the design? Or was he just sadly lacking in originality?

[shaila]

EDDIE IRVINE'S:cool:

[Khan]

I agree with Frans. I think Jos' orange design from Canada 2000 was excellent.
I also like Kimi's design. It looks like Mika's blue circles only tilted forward.

[AlesiUK]

Alesi chrome is by far the coolest ever.

My own is cool as well,it is the "real" scotish flag,the lion rampant.


Yellow helmet with 5 different red lions stuck in various places.

[Flying Panda]

Jos Verstappen, Canada 2000. The helmet speaks for itself.
Thanks to Frans for pointing this one out


Tarso Marques. Beautiful desing, espically on the forehead area, and stands out on the track.


Mika Hakkinen. His helmet is original, no fnacy designs to try and show off.


Rikky von Opel. Talk about orignial. This is just beautiful. and it looks just like to one I use! Plain white!


Michel Krumm.


Luiz Garcia Jr.


Alex Yoong. Making the Malaysia flag more beautiful than ever.


Noberto Fontana. It's sleek and it's classy.


Alexander Wurz. Great clash of colour.


Worst Helmet. Michael Andretti. Too American for me.

[schumigal]

actually, if ur looking from top view, alex yoong's helmet got to be the best. easy to identified with that big yellow star!

but if overall, i think kimi's one is very attractive.

schuey's one, hmm bit reddish for me. then again it's easy to spot him in the car! so i guess i should be happy!

[mhferrari]

At www.forix.com, in the drivers section, under Alesi, Alesi explains why he picked the Elio de Angelis design. Gil de Ferran also has a "de Angelisesque" helmet.

[JonC]

I reckon just about everyone has a great helmet...not that keen on JV's but everyone's lids look good. Usually drivers original designs are a bit bland, but when they get to F1+ they tend to have developed them a bit...added a bit of texture there, bit of chrome.
Chrome helmets like Alesi's and Montoya's look great...anyone know why Jean initially went back to the white at the start of 2001 then went back to chrome again?

[GraDee]

I like original helmet... so I think JV's is a nice design. It has a slight hint of his fathers helmet design but with his own twists and colours.
Both Schumachers are beautiful IMO. It just works with the German colours, I've seen similar fade designs from back to front with other national flag colours and it jsut doesn's work, this does!

Montoyas is beautiful IMO.

Also, plain but simple Alesi's is nice simply because it's simple but its a classic design, and very distinct.

Alex Wurz is nice, I agree but it seems to suit motorbike racing designs over single seater.

Worst must be Jenson Button, first it looked like a desperate attempt to say "Like me, I'm British" with a giant unuion jack with no other detail but the fact taht he must take an XXXL helmet shone through when he mporphed the Union Jack into his own initials...ugh, how self-centered can you be?

[arnulfo182]

Kimi Raikkonen has a cool helmet, but i also like Heidfeld's, dark blue on top with day-glo yellow on the side, very distinctive.

Also, Marc Gene and Gaston Mazzacane had interesting helmets, both had cartoons on the back, if I remember correctly, Gaston had some sort of shark, and Gene had Calvin and Hobbes from the comic strip.

I also found Pedro Diniz's helmet very classy the way he copied Carlos Pace's design. And I think Mika Salo's helmet looked cool in the Ferrari with the blue standing out from the red.

Also, I think Barrichello's is interesting if you see the design on top, it looks like some cigarrettes lined up with a bright star on top! Ugliest helmet? Zonta's is pretty ugly, but I think Frentzen's takes the cake.

[mhferrari]

Yoong's, because it is sort of like my helmet design (that is in my head, with a US flag instead of a Malaysian one).

[nordschleife]

The simplest patterns, you'd have to think, were designed completely by the owners which makes them far preferable to me because they're a real expression of that driver. I recall that Jacques just started playing around with his helmet and some paint in his hotel room and voila! Same with Piquet.
I assume that the complex designs originated with a few instructions to the painter whose previous work the driver admired. The result then is more the product of the painter's mind than the owner. Sorry but no resonance, no thanks.

My favourite: Ayrton Senna's. Picture it in the JPS Lotus. Has any helmet/car combination approached that perfection? And isn't it interesting that when Camel became their sponsor that Senna didn't attempt to match that burnt yellow?

Honourable mention:Nelson Piquet, Dan Gurney (simply black, no decals), Niki Lauda, Michael Andretti, Elliot Forbes-Robinson had a Hawaiian kind of thing going on his helmet which I thought was cool.

In defense of Jacques's choice of colours, he claims that is not pink but something else which I can't remember. Total effect is positive but not extraordinary.

[Khan]

How about Barichello's helmet from Brazil 2001? Very cool colors, I wish he kept it.

http://www.dailyf1.c...day/pic35.shtml

[taran]

Sorry to have to contradict you there, Nordschleife ;) , but Senna actually DID change the colour of his helmet to suit the Camel-Lotus.

At first he did race with the original yellow but (according to Reynolds marketing boys) it clashed rather horribly with the yellow of Camel, so Senna was asked (ordered) to change it.

When he joined McLaren in 1988, he reverted to the original, brighter yellow.

[nordschleife]

Contradict away, taran, and we'll work our way toward enlightenment.
I did not know that Reynolds had "ordered" Senna to make that change although I always assumed it to be their wish. The ideal would have been to change the Camel yellow to match the extremely pleasing yellow that Senna used.
Did Senna actually change the colour of his helmet in accordance with their wishes? Having just examined all relevant photos published in the 1987 Autocourse and that year's Road & Track magazines my observations were that every shot (I found no exceptions) that had a convincing degree of clarity supported my view that Senna's helmet appears to be the same yellow as in previous and subsequent years.I cannot revise my opinion until you convince me that I should not to believe my eyes.

[mahelgel]

Khan: I would say that his Brazilian colors are far better than the regular ones.

I like helmets that have simple design. Senna's, Mika's, DC's and Hill's are ones that spring to mind.