A helmet worn by Ayrton Senna during his final season driving for McLaren-Honda has sold for almost three-quarters of a million pounds.
The Shoei helmet was sold at an auction which also featured dozens of items previously owned by the 1992 world champion, Nigel Mansell.Auction house RM Sotheby’s confirmed the helmet, sold at its Shift Online: Europe and Middle East sale, achieved the highest price ever for an F1 helmet.
The Senna helmet dated from the same year Mansell won the championship, before Honda’s withdrawal. Senna wore it at Spa, where he finished fifth in a race which saw Michael Schumacher score his first victory. The weekend was also memorable for the high-speed crash suffered by Erik Comas at Blanchimont during practice, when Senna stopped his car and came to the Ligier driver’s aid.
Senna only contested one full season following 1992, in a Ford-powered McLaren. In 1994, after moving to Williams, he died in a crash during the third round of the season at Imola.
Mansell had already won the 1992 world championship by the time the field arrived at Spa. One of his helmets from the same season fetched the highest price of dozens of items he offered, selling for £62,400. It was his last full season in F1, though he contested a handful of races in 1994 and 1995.
Other items sold in the same auction from the third part of Mansell’s Legacy Collection include his 1992 championship trophy (not the cup) for £22,000, a 1990 Ferrari race suit for £17,400 and his 1987 race winner’s trophy from the French Grand Prix for £15,000.
Historic F1 items have sold for increasingly high prices in recent months. In February a 70-year-old Mercedes fetched a record-breaking sale price of €51.15 million (£42.7m).
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Alesici
9th May 2025, 10:26
For those thinking of acquiring today’s F1 drivers’ racesuits hoping that they will one day be worth millions, bear in mind that every day they get in the car, each driver is wearing a brand new racesuit. That’s true I believe of Mercedes at least. That level of alarmingly excessive consumption limits their rarity and therefore their future value.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
9th May 2025, 11:00
Likewise with helmets. Other than sponsors and some minor tweaks, the likes of Senna & Mansell wore largely the same design their whole career. You know it’s a Senna helmet and what year from the small sponsor changes and make of the helmet. The turn of the century seems to be the beginning of people changing designs (Schumacher, Irvine & Alesi spring to mind) and by the time we get to Vettel 10 years later it’s a different lid every race.
I don’t mind it so much, but it’s not like drivers today are painting them themselves to ‘celebrate Miami!’ they’re farmed out to the marketing department ‘Alex Albon has dolphins on his head today’. There’s fun it for sure, but a little something about ‘uniqueness’ or ‘identity’ is lost in the process.
Coulthard Monaco 96′ is still the coolest.
Alesici
9th May 2025, 13:20
I didn’t mean that every day’s suit design was different. It was that every day’s suit is a newly manufactured one.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
9th May 2025, 14:11
Of course, nothing is reused and probably aesthetically redesigned. It cheapens their value in some regards. I wouldn’t be surprised if Keke Rosberg wore the same overalls with different logos stitched on over months if not seasons. Fangio, Graham Hill, Lauda. I don’t know how many rounds they wore them for, but they seem more significant because they weren’t just used once.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
9th May 2025, 11:24
I’m not sure about the race suits, but I do remember an interesting story about how some drivers like Senna, Prost, and Villeneuve who were incredibly superstitious when it came to their gloves. Rather than replacing them, they would often repair any scratches or damage and continue using the same pair for as long as possible. You can actually see in some onboard footage just how worn and tattered their gloves became over time.
Jere (@jerejj)
9th May 2025, 14:45
Alesici Hamilton may change driving suits very frequently (I’ve heard a claim that he’d wear as many as 70-something in a season), but that doesn’t mean every single driver changes for every single event, let alone every single session, not to mention changing as often as Hamilton does is simply excessive, so every single driver doing so is unrealistic.
For example, a driver could use a single driving suit for Friday, another for Saturday, & for the race back to the same one as on Friday, & a suit used for at least one session in a given event could very well be used during several other same-season events.
I hope I’ll some day get a definitive answer about how often drivers on average change driving suits, gloves, boots, nomex’s, balaclavas, even shirts & other team clothing, etc., throughout a single season because Hamilton’s case is clearly an isolation from the average & even he could be more reasonable because realistically way less than 70 is enough.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
9th May 2025, 15:58
I dont believe suits are worn ONCE for a minute. If they are i’d be straight on that with the cost cap. Bring your own suit Max or you’ll have to play in your pants
Alesici
9th May 2025, 16:52
I agree that it’s a ludicrous waste of resources. But that’s what the responsible staff member for Mercedes clearly stated in the official F1 Explained podcast.
Jere (@jerejj)
9th May 2025, 17:09
@tonymansell Same. Simply unrealistic because they aren’t single-use material by any means, after all.
Alesici That particular Mercedes employee could’ve simply exaggerated reality to some extent.
I don’t believe he (or people generally) would intend to blatantly lie, but exaggerating matters is always possible, even just to give a theoretical idea of how much is or would be possible.
Simon
9th May 2025, 23:52
Word salad as usual…
Alesici
13th May 2025, 11:08
@Jere, F1 and sensible reality are not overly related.
They were the person specifically responsible for that aspect, so it would be very unprofessional and unMercedes to lie to an official F1 podcast. And for what gain? To show off that they’re wasting money and resources irresponsibly? There is very little motive for doing that.
S Arkazam
9th May 2025, 10:54
I assume Senna gifted this helmet to Mansell as some kind thank-you or token of admiration.
It feels a bit ‘morally debatable’ to then sell it to the highest bidder. I probably would have proudly kept it or loaned/gifted it to a museum.
anon
9th May 2025, 11:56
I am not sure if it was actually part of his collection, or if it’s just that the helmet was sold at the same auction that also sold off part of Mansell’s collection at the same time (ie it was selling motorsport memorabilia in general).
The article is a bit unclear, but it seems to imply it is the latter case (ie they were separate lots at the same auction, rather than part of the same collection).
JimG (@jimg)
9th May 2025, 12:05
I’d be interested to know what condition the helmet was in. Last weekend I happened to see a Shoei motorcycle helmet from around 1999 which had been stored in a cupboard for ~20 years and some of the padding was crumbling, apparently just from age.
Ideals (@ideals)
9th May 2025, 12:53
Imagine the obscene amount of money one must have to spend this much on what is really just a novelty object.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
9th May 2025, 13:05
It does seem a bit odd to buy a trophy someone else won.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
9th May 2025, 14:40
I can imagine a senna fan with enough money would be interested in this kind of stuff, they’re a sort of reminder of the driver; ecclestone for example bought one of senna’s mclarens for 4 millions pounds or something like that few years ago.
Ferdi
10th May 2025, 12:16
Yeah, I have one (a replica, but full size) exactly for that reason.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
9th May 2025, 15:56
To some on the planet, that you have a phone or laptop that is worth more than they earn in a year is obscene, its all about where you are standing aint it; and as an investment its likely to increase in price as a keep sake for an F1 and Senna fan its probably worth more even than they paid.
MichaelN
9th May 2025, 17:28
Not really, because this helmet was sold in a Europe/Middle East auction, not in the poorest regions of the world.
This is about two decades of a median English salary. It’s obscene even in the context of an otherwise rich society.
Tony Mansell (@tonymansell)
11th May 2025, 19:22
Plenty in the Middle East earn hardly anything. My point stands anyway but just correcting your 2nd error. it is tough for some people not to think their world is the whole world
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
9th May 2025, 14:43
Oh, there’s a typo in the article, it reads: “It was high last full season in F1” instead of his last full season.
Scotty (@rockonscotty)
9th May 2025, 15:05
Is there a source on how many cars are built and which ones are used in what races? How many MCL39’s are there? Was the ones used in Saudi Arabi the same ones used in Miami? Williams didn’t have a spare car last year and it was huge news but I have never been able to find that information.
SteveR (@stever)
9th May 2025, 15:59
Teams aren’t allowed to bring a spare car to races but can bring a chassis and build up a car if necessary. Seems like four chassis are built for a season with another spare if a chassis is destroyed, which doesn’t happen often.
Jere (@jerejj)
9th May 2025, 17:13
@rockonscotty Autocourse Annual books feature a chassis log book section, which shows what monocoque copy a given driver has used for each event in a given season, albeit mysteriously, Ferrari, McLaren, & VCARB haven’t had theirs listed for a little while.
The respective monocoque copies Norris & Piastri used for the Miami GP sessions could very well be the same ones they used for the Saudi Arabian GP sessions, but unfortunately, I think this year’s equivalent Autocourse Annual review book won’t feature the monocoque numberings for the same above-mentioned teams either.
However, a driver using the same monocoque copy throughout a session isn’t abnormal per se, for example, Seb used the same one throughout the 2016 season.
Deep Sky
12th May 2025, 6:35
Yes, when I saw this in the Autocourse Annual book I bought once, I was amazed that much granular detail was captured. The work those guys is awesome.