Oscar Piastri has a special helmet design as he prepares to race in his home city this weekend, and three others also have different looking lids for the Australian Grand Prix.
Oscar Piastri’s 2023 Australian Grand Prix helmet
“A special race calls for a special helmet,” says Piastri, whose third F1 start will come in his backyard.“It’s not too different from my normal design, just with more Australian flags,” he explains. “Except if you look on the top have a giant kangaroo – I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon, I think it looks great.”
Besides an abundance of flags, Piastri’s special helmet also features a rendering of the Melbourne skyline.
Zhou Guanyu’s 2023 Australian Grand Prix helmet
Piastri isn’t the only driver sporting a kangaroo on his helmet this weekend – so does his former Alpine junior scheme cohort Zhou Guanyu, who also races for a different team in F1.
The next round on the calendar was supposed to be Zhou’s home race and like Piastri he also hails from the city which hosts his country’s race. But the cancellation of the Chinese Grand Prix for the fourth year in a row means he will have to wait even longer before he gets to race before his home fans.
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Valtteri Bottas’ 2023 Australian Grand Prix helmet
Valtteri Bottas has developed an affinity for the country where he won in 2019 and turned up to this year’s race sporting sporting a ‘bogan’ look. This special design will be auctioned off to raise money for the charity Save the Children.
“I like to express myself through my special helmets,” said Bottas. “Australian culture and history are something I have taken a keen interest in recent years, especially through my partner, Tiffany, who is from here, and we were committed to paying a special tribute to the Indigenous community.”
The design was produced in collaboration with Indigenous Australian artist Ricky Kildea, who produced two of the helmets. “He’s a very talented artist, and I enjoyed the creative process behind the helmets,” said Bottas. “I reckon they are two of the finest designs I have ever brought on track, and I am delighted to be auctioning one of them off for a good cause.”
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George Russell’s 2023 Australian Grand Prix helmet
Russell actually started using this helmet at the last race in Jeddah. Having started the season with a green colour schemes which matched the colour flashes on his car, Russell has now gone back to blue.
2023 Australian Grand Prix
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Jere (@jerejj)
1st April 2023, 4:20
I like both Alfa Romeo driver designs, especially Zhou’s, even more than his regular one.
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage (@davedai)
1st April 2023, 4:33
Clever use of Aboriginal flag colours on rear of Oscar’s.
Whether it’s enough to save us from a visit from Lidia Thorpe is another matter.