Valtteri Bottas's Mika Hakkinen tribute helmet, Monaco, 2018

Bottas wearing Hakkinen tribute helmet for Monaco Grand Prix

2018 Monaco Grand Prix

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Valtteri Bottas is paying tribute to Mika Hakkinen with a special helmet design for the Monaco Grand Prix weekend.

Hakkinen won the Monaco Grand Prix 20 years ago on his way to the first of his two world championship victories. He was later involved in promoting Bottas’s career with manager Didier Coton and Mercedes’ Toto Wolff.

Drivers often wear special helmets for the Monaco Grand Prix and many have worn the designs of past racers. In recent seasons Kimi Raikkonen has worn James Hunt’s helmet design, Jean-Eric Vergne paid tribute to Jean Alesi and Marcus Ericsson donned Ronnie Peterson’s colours.

Valtteri Bottas’s Mika Hakkinen helmet for the Monaco Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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10 comments on “Bottas wearing Hakkinen tribute helmet for Monaco Grand Prix”

  1. For me this is a truly iconic helmet livery, but that’s probably also because Hakkinen is one of my alltime favourites.

    It’s a shame that most contamporary designs are too full with details. Back to the basic makes it much easier to identify a driver. I don’t expect that one of the current helmet designs of the current drivers will make the history books as iconic.

    1. @matthijs I very much doubt that, the current Vettel design that he’s had since joining Ferrari seems not only simple, tasteful but potentially iconic even if he doesn’t ever win a WDC with them. The helmet Alonso uses is similar and has only become more simplified and distinguished like the helmets of the 90s and 80s. I’m sure if taken the time, others with in the past few years could be found.

    2. @matthijs – +1 to what magillagorilla has said, I was about to say the same about Alonso’s iconic helmet with the Asturian colours, particularly with the even cleaner lines he’s gone with this year. Vettel has also simplified and cleaned up his helmet design to a very attractive one in recent years (after being the driver who tended to change helmets very frequently!), and Hamilton’s old yellow design in his McLaren years was another standout as well (and one that I miss).

      To me, those 3 helmets make for an instant identification of the driver in question.

  2. The only thing that ruins that design is the Monster “halo” (which has ruined all the Mercedes drivers helmets since 2011 to be fair). Otherwise, it’s a cracker.

  3. Awesome. Awesome, awesome, awesome. Shame it will largely be obscured by the halo.

    That’s not an opinion, that’s science!

  4. Takes me back to Coulthard wearing Schumacher’s helmet for the 96 Monaco GP…

  5. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
    24th May 2018, 13:28

    That is awesome!!!! However it does make me feel old. A driver I watched race has now got a tribute helmet! Although 2 drivers from ‘back in my day’ have kids on the grid, so never mind!

    1. same here :)

  6. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
    24th May 2018, 16:14

    I also really liked Vergne’s Cevert tribute a few years back.

Comments are closed.