Daniel Ricciardo, Renault, Circuit de Catalunya, 2019

Ricciardo to reveal new ‘non-traditional’ helmet for 2019

RaceFans Round-up

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In the round-up: Daniel Ricciardo is planning to overhaul his crash helmet design as he no longer has to carry Red Bull’s logos.

What they say

This has been a bit of a concept, a test concept, call it. I’ve been working with an Aussie artist. Don’t think like traditional but he’s just an Australian artist and he’s been working on it for quite a few months. So it’ll come out in Melbourne but it’s certainly going to be different.

It’s not going to be traditional and you know a typical with Halo and just lines that mean nothing, trying to get away from the typical helmet you see these days. So it should be funky. It’s kind of artistic in a modern way.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

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Comment of the day

Is Ferrari’s prize money bouns excessive?

I don’t really have an issue with them getting a Long-Standing Team bonus, it’s the size of it that baffles me. They get more money simply for showing up to the season, than Mercedes do for winning the constructors’ championship.

It’s no wonder why Ferrari focus on the drivers’ championship, there’s no benefit to them in winning the constructors’ championship.

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On this day in F1

A future legend of the sport was born on this day in 1936 in Kilmany, Scotland. Jim Clark was born into a farming family but quickly found his way into motor racing and joined the Lotus team in 1960.

He won a series of non-championship races in 1961 but was also involved in a terrible crash at Monza which claimed the life of championship contender Wolfgang von Trips and 14 spectators. The following year, equipped with the light but fragile Lotus 25, he scored a breakthrough championship race win at Spa and added two more victories by the end of the year.

The following season was a rout. Clark won seven times, scoring a maximum possible 54 points in a season when drivers could only count their six best results. The year also included his second of four consecutive home race wins.

Reliability problems with the new Lotus 33 hampered Clark’s 1964 campaign, though he won three times in the 25 and went into the final round still able to defend his title. But an oil leak put him out and John Surtees took the title. Clark hit back the following year with five more wins and his second title – despite missing the Monaco Grand Prix to enter the Indianapolis 500, which he also won.

Although he conjured in improbable win out of the 16-cylinder Lotus-BRM in 1966, it wasn’t until he got his hands on the Cosworth DFV the following season that he had a suitable engine for F1’s new 3.0-litre era. Again retirements blunted his challenge, though he won four times, drawing level with Juan Manuel Fangio’s then-record of 24 career wins.

Clark surpassed that in the 1968 season-opener at Kyalami. More wins and titles would have undoubtedly followed, but in an F2 race at the Hockenheimring in April his car veered off the track and struck a tree. The death of one of motor racing’s greatest talent stunned the sport.

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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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33 comments on “Ricciardo to reveal new ‘non-traditional’ helmet for 2019”

  1. And his honesty is one of the reason why we follow Bob.

  2. “I haven’t done longer than 15 laps long run.”

    I guess keeping up with the physical fitness regime and putting in hours on the simulator will help.

    1. It’s pretty sad, a great comeback, but only 281 laps and no race simulation or qualifying simulation. About 60% of those laps had data sensors, and he was just driving slowly. The least prepared of any driver this year, when he was the one that perhaps needs the most preperation after being away so long. The first couple races are going to be extended testing for Williams.

  3. I translate Ricciardo’s words as ‘it’s going to be horrifyingly ugly’.

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      4th March 2019, 3:44

      Maybe… I’d rather it be ugly and unique though as opposed to the others that all look the same. If I was shown all the helmets with the logos removed, I think I’d struggle to get 50% right.

      1. @petebaldwin I find I am less and less interested in helmet design as time goes by but thinking back to when I first got into the sport I could easily identify a lot of drivers purely from the design. I think classic, iconic designs were more prevalent. nowadays, it’s basically just hamilton, alonso and raikkonen (aping james hunt, I think). the others either change too much, or they don’t have any kind of memorable design. webber’s was fairly recognisable and if vettel keeps the white design, then that will be too (but it’s quite dull).

        the best were ones with identifiable shapes or markings e.g. mansell, piquet, prost, arnoux (so classic),villeneuve sr, hill (sr & jr), stewart, alesi (my favourite – barichello’s is very similar), berger. senna’s was obviously a unique colour. jacques villeneuve’s was sensationally ugly but at least it stood out from the others.

        1. I loved David Coulthard’s pre-Red Bull design, too. The Scottish flag helmet is instantly recognizable. Same goes for Mika’s blue and black stripes.

        2. As a child I became a fan of Eddie Cheever mainly because of his helmet design. Today, I can’t even recall Lewis Hamilton’s design other than it contains yellow to mimic Senna and “Still I rise” written somewhere – not exactly iconic. Let’s hope Dan’s new lid changes that.

    2. I just hope that if it has Australian indigenous colours that it is first approved by the indigenous community.

      1. if it has Australian indigenous art work, I’m guessing it will have been done by an indigenous artist.

        1. Not always the case!

      2. “kind of artistic in a modern way“

        Nothing about that says indigenous to me. He even says don’t think traditional so I really doubt it will have any aboriginal flair.

        1. “kind of artistic in a modern way“

          I wonder where this belongs on the artistic spectrum

        2. He means traditional in a helmet paint way, not indigenous art.

    3. If anyone’s curious, here’s a link to the artist’s page who is designing the helmet: https://www.instagram.com/ornamentalconifer/

      I can’t wait to see something a bit different on the grid – and that’s not just the typographer in me speaking! If anything it’s great to see Daniel supporting a regional artist to him. More of that across the grid and even at GPs would be perfect

  4. All the Red Bull drivers who’ve left the Red Bull fold now have some of the best helmet designs on the grid (re: Vettel and Sainz) so I feel like Red Bull should really let the big logos go and let the creativity of the drivers and their designers take over.

    1. yeah, it seems that since these drivers get to do a “all mine” design when they are in a solid place in their lives (i.e. they made a choice where to go, feel good about themselves, are employed and looking forward to what is to come) they really have a go at making something that sticks as “theirs” @major-dev.

      I hope we’ll get a good and distinctive design for Ricciardo.

  5. Lewis is getting too upset every time the tabloids write something about him. When you are famous this is what happens; just get over it.
    Do you think that I get upset every time those guys publish my picture? You don’t see me complain on social media when they link me to a new girl half my age. And it’s nobody’s business how much money I make or where I pay my taxes; so I don’t bite.
    I’ve risen above all that.
    And I keep on dreaming with a big smile on my face ;)

    1. @coldfly The curious thing for me is Hamilton’s refuted one tabloid story I hadn’t heard about him but not mentioned the other two I had heard. I’m not saying that makes them true, but it’s the occupational hazard of trying to correct that kind of reportage. It’s like playing Whack-a-Mole…

      1. And the bigger risk is the Streisand effect, unless he’s pulling a reverse-psychology move on us specifically to bring some focus on this.

        1. You’re my man @phylyp (but you knew that).
          The Streisand Effect, I love it.
          I mentioned it a few years ago on this site.

          Just found it again link, and it seems I used it twice.

      2. @keithcollantine
        Keith have you got any thoughts on who might be the 4th best team out of the midfield at this early stage after testing? l know there are so many variables in the times, maybe a gut feeling?

  6. Seems an odd outburst by Lewis. Maybe he’s feeling the pressure ahead of the season start, especially after Ferrari’s testing performance. We all need a good vent, but social media isn’t the place…

    I can’t wait for a week on Friday. The anticipation of a mixed up top 10 is enough to keep me awake to watch FP1 live!

  7. Even more untraditional eh??
    https://bit.ly/2tLV2fA

  8. I share the same views as the COTD, Ferrari indeed hasn’t seemed to care as much about the WCC as the WDC, and the fact they get more prize money just for showing up than any other team gets for winning the WCC speaks volumes about it.

    1. Fair enough, most fans have a favourite driver, and the wdc is more prestigious to most fans than the wcc. Most casual fans could care less about the constructors title, I know I don’t and I’ve watched f1 for 26 years.

  9. Hopefully it’s not too bogan.. GO DR!

  10. I’m intrigued by Lewis’s antics because of his very public link to Christianity.

    Everything he says, his lifestyle, his brand, his ‘Still I Rise’ antics, what he represents, -I genuinely question if he understands the Gospel at all…

    Every snippet I read or hear from him seems to be too much emphasis on self belief, and he can do anything if he puts his mind to it. I keep interpreting it as not gracious towards god but insulting to think God is some magical genie that all we gotta do is pray and we shall receive #blessed. Still I Rise.

    Full disclaimer. I don’t know what Lewis’s core beliefs are other than small grabs. I suppose thats always what interests me about his moments and antics in the spotlight -I’d love to know, and would love to open up that can of religious worms with him !

    -spoken as a motorsport nut who is completely new to Christianity and trying to work it all out for myself, and by default involving motorsport into everything, because racecar.

    1. ‘Still I Rise’ is a poem by Maya Angelou and to the best of my knowledge isn’t really about religion, rather various forms of oppression. Happy to be corrected if anyone knows better :-)

      1. Beauty, thanks !

  11. I’m betting Riciardos helmet will be a helmet with a design painted on it rather than a world shattering event of unimaginable artistic importance to the entire Formula One community.

    It’s Kubica that I am concerned about.
    I stated a few times last year that I believe his long term stamina is going to be his Achilles heel.
    Now he says himself that he hasn’t “done longer than 15 laps” in long run testing?
    I fear him becoming a slow moving / slow reacting annoyance by mid-season rather than being the Dream Story return that I think we would all love, and that F1 could certainly use.

    1. Robert why you make your fans so sad, why? ;(
      It makes me sad beyond belief that no matter how Kubica’s return goes, be it either a “flat pancake, no suryp” or a “return of a great hero, who has fought through unimaginable hardships to achieve his dream”.

      Either of those two will, atleast in my mind, be converted to a sad ending of a great story.

      As a Kubica fan, I was really disheartened when BMW publicly pulled out of the championship race in ’08 even though Kubica wanted to keep pushing since they were quite competitive, it will be a sad sight to see a once future champion unable to even complete a race distance due to physical limitations.

      As a F1 fan, it will be a sad sight to see that someone with considerable mobility issues, and in the upper extremities, no less, can operate the kind of beasts that F1 cars are. Kubica being competitive might actually be even worse here, since it’d be a bigger blow to F1’s symbol of “peak performance”.

      Trying to brag to your mates by saying “My wife was on the cover of Cosmopolitan.” and they can easily answer with “So was Tess Holliday.”

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