Norris recalls Verstappen's broken Hungarian GP trophy with special helmet

Lando Norris’ crash helmet for this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix is a nod to his trophy-smashing blunder in the same event 12 months ago.

Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free

The McLaren driver, who finished second last year, accidentally knocked race winner Max Verstappen’s first-place trophy off the podium while he was celebrating. The trophy, worth around £35,000, broke at its base.

Norris made light of the incident at first but later apologised to Verstappen for his mistake. “I obviously had no intention of ever doing such a thing and I know how much it means to the Hungarians and part of their culture and so forth,” he said. “Of course I want to enjoy the time, but it was never my intention to do such a thing.”

“I obviously made a couple of jokes about it – which maybe I shouldn’t – but I do feel bad. If he did it to my trophy I’d be annoyed! So I do apologise for it and obviously the people who put the time and effort in and everything into making it. I really didn’t mean for it to happen. So I’ll make sure I’m a lot more careful next time when celebrating.”

Max Verstappen with his broken trophy, Hungaroring, 2023 — Norris broke Verstappen’s trophy last year

Herend Porcelain, who created the trophy, supplied Verstappen with a replacement five weeks after the race. For this year’s race, Norris will wear a helmet styled by Herend Porcelain depicting an assortment of wildlife.

At least one other driver will wear a similar look at the Hungaroring. Esteban Ocon, who scored his only Formula 1 victory to date in the Hungarian Grand Prix three years ago, will wear a helmet styled on the trophy he won that day. He recently received the A521 chassis he won the race in from his Alpine team.

Herend have produced the trophies again for this year’s Hungarian Grand Prix. The winning driver’s trophy measures 53cm tall and weighs three kilograms.

Esteban Ocon’s 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix helmet

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Formula 1

Browse all Formula 1 articles

18 comments on “Norris recalls Verstappen’s broken Hungarian GP trophy with special helmet”

Retired (@jeff1s)
17th July 2024, 16:34

Anyway
Wellbalanced
17th July 2024, 16:40

I love those two helmet designs – artistic and imaginative!
1. EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
  18th July 2024, 0:37
  
  Definitely artistic, and very nice, though I am not convinced it took a lot of imagination.
Jere (@jerejj)
17th July 2024, 16:47

Both helmet designs are great.
Jonathan Parkin
17th July 2024, 17:31

Isn’t there a rule that states the trophy has to be unbreakable. I still remember Spa trophies that were made from cut glass which was even more fragile
1. Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
  17th July 2024, 18:24
  
  From FIA’s rulebook, Article 193.2
  
  “Ceremonial trophies must comply with the requirements set in the Technical Regulations Art. 42, Chapter 9, which specifies they must be made of a material strong enough to survive a 0.9 m drop without noticeable damage. In cases of night races, the measurement will be set at 0.7 m after consideration of colder temperatures and lower atmospheric pressure.”
  1. ady (@sixwheeler)
    18th July 2024, 15:59
    
    I am amazed that a group of people sat down and discussed this and settled on exactly 0.9m, and 0.7m at night
    1. Doh
      18th July 2024, 16:30
      
      Especially considering a daytime race can be just as cold as a night race
  2. Icarus
    18th July 2024, 16:22
    
    “In cases of events with temperatures below 10C/50F, the trophy must only withstand a stern look for 30 seconds.”
2. MacLeod (@macleod)
  18th July 2024, 8:04
  
  Porcelain never survive a drop so they have a exception…. This must be the reason why the Dutch grand prix isn’t made by Delfsblauw…. I wonder about that. Probaly the cost the Heineken trofee are cheap maybe €300 for the lot while custommade Delftblauw will exceed €50k per trofee. (I emailed them for a price of 4 trofees but got no answer yet)
Nick T.
17th July 2024, 18:44

Yawn. This is about as lame as when NBA players started being all friendly and trading jerseys at the end of games.
1. Dex
  18th July 2024, 1:41
  
  They are friends. Nothing lame about that, as long as it’s not a fake PR story. And I doubt it is, because a fake rivalry would earn them more money (and everyone else).
2. Mayrton
  18th July 2024, 7:10
  
  I think it is quite funny actually.
Jojo
17th July 2024, 23:07

As long as it’s made of stronger stuff than the trophy
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
18th July 2024, 0:39

I think Lando’s helmet design should incorporate a few cracks.
1. Mayrton
  18th July 2024, 7:09
  
  Hahaha, with some excessive glue parts on it
  1. Morrow (@)
    18th July 2024, 9:52
    
    love it! ya Lando, stop equivocating. Own it buddy!
Morrow (@)
18th July 2024, 9:52

absolutely.