Should sponsors completely disrupt a driver's helmet design?

[Jordi]

I have just seen the pictures of Montoya's first 2005 test with McLaren, and have seen with horror that his traditional arrow design is almost gone thanks to a white band with West branding.

Of course sponsors pour a lot of money, but is it that difficult to reach a compromise in design, especially McLaren, who seem to be perfect at designing things.

On the other hand, this makes Kimi and Juan's helmets pretty similar, as both have a big white blob around their heads.

The bottom line is: Do you think a driver's helmet design should be maintained at all costs or shall we give freedom to the sponsors to do with it whatever they want?

I think a helmet is one of the few identities left a driver has, as long gone are the days where drivers would wear different colour overalls, and as such it should be maintained, for the sake of identifying.

[Spritle]

Somehow I get the feeling that the redesign was Juan's choice. With adverts appearing just about everywhere including on the bodies of boxers, he may have received more than a few quid to change his design.

[MikeM]

Hadn't it changed by the end of last year at Williams?

[Kicking-back]

The one in Brazil was a prize from a competition - he invited children to design it.

His new one is a reworking of his traditional design to incorporate the sponsor band.

However, if you look at his helmet and that of Alex Wurz, at least McLaren think about it and get the helmets redesigned so the sponsor band will fit - rather than just slap the logos on like some teams do.

[andy_b]

Its the nature of business unfortunately....

....however, I think it could have been much better implimented, by moving the arrow down etc.

[Dick Spanner]

I certainly think they'll come to regret racing with big white blobs on their helmets.

[Kicking-back]

It pays the bills though!

[Gabrio]

Originally Posted by Kicking-back

It pays the bills though!

Yup! And if I had a sponsor ready to pay for my racing for the whole next year, I'd be happy to change my color scheme from the one you see on my avatar to a pink panther one.... Or maybe not completely.....

[Logrence]

Boo-de-hoo - I'm sure Juan was crying all the way to the bank.

I don't think he's the kind of chap who would keep quiet if he wasn't happy about his lid being messed with, though.

[Phoenix1]

See Red Bull drivers for real disruption. Christian Klien and if memory serves, all Red Bull drivers who are paided through lower formulas have the same design. Bit of a shame really and annoying as well! I do think it is okay to have some redesign but the helemet should always be a symbol of who you are.

[Tweed]

So what would happen if Klien and AJ Allmendinger were both in F1 in a couple of years?

[Vicki]

With so much of F1 being sponsored I think the drivers ought to have one part of their kit as something that shows who they are, their personality and stuff like that. If I were racing I'd have a black helmet with like pink flames and sparks, cos I am a girl but there is a darker side to me. Individuality should have a place everywhere, including F1.

[jhansen]

I find this thread rather humerous. First off I'm wondering why any of you would care what happens to the paint/logos on a driver's helmet?

Secondly, the drivers could chose to raise a fuss over it if it really bothered them.

Thirdly, maybe some of you are just bent at the fact that these boys are making a nice sum for slapping a logo on their lid while the rest of us offer free adverstising for the logod hats we wear.

And lastly, shouldn't we just be concerned that the helmets are meeting their primary criteria...safety?

[BootsOntheSide]

JPM's the last driver I'd expect to do something like this. The question is, does the money West are paying for the space go to JPM or to McLaren? It could be that West suggested the idea, and JPM agreed but Kimi didn't, which JPM perhaps keen to get straight into Ron's good books?

[Kicking-back]

Boots - Juan Pablo's helmet has no more West branding on it than Kimi's.

[Teretonga]

West pay some of the bills so they probably pay his salary. Fair enough. However I would have thought that they still could have got the branding on without having the white ring on the helmet and destroying the nature of the paint scheme, or did he change the design somewhat in order to fit in with the branding? I remeber reading a oeice about him changing his helmet design when he came to the end of last season, and I don't mean the piece about the special one off helmet in Brazil.
When Senna was at McLaren Marlboro drivers all Marlboro contracted drivers had a white band with the Marlboro brand on it plus the Chevron on the front above the visor. All that is ecept Senna-he had the chevron but insisted on having his bank(Nacional) around his helmet and no white ring....Ron and Marlboro must have agreed to it...

[manwell]

Maybe this is just a rumor, but im sure i heard or read somewhere years ago that the Nacional sponsorship that Senna had on his helmet wasnt paid for.
I heard originally they sponsored him in some of the lower series and then his first few years getting into Formula 1. But after that they withdrew their sponsorship of him but he continued to keep their logo on his helmet to thank them because it was them who helped him get to where he was.
Can anyone else confirm this?

[brightline]

I think that today in F1 with identical liveries on team cars, similar helmet designs and numbers that are basically non-existent to television viewers, helmets should be as varied as possible.

Personally I think the driver's helmet should be a statement of an individuals identity. However, if a driver is so inclined to line his helmet with sponsor logos so be it, consider the fact that he sold the space on his head part of his personality.

I really just wish that team cars were a bit easier to distinguish.

[StickShift]

Originally Posted by brightline

I really just wish that team cars were a bit easier to distinguish.

Sadly, we've been reduced to day-glo orange T-cams to distinguish team-mates.

It didn't help either when F1 made car numbers on the side of the car optional.

[Gt_R]

"Should sponsors completely disrupt a driver's helmet design?"

I think not COMPLETELY, but sponsors, given the money they input, should be given some "rights" to paste their stickers and influence the design.

However, i agree that in open-wheel racing especially, helmets are VITAL INDENTITIES that help us tell the difference between different drivers..and that if a driver's helmet as a strong identity and have been around for a long time..it's not nice to drastically change it.

[Kicking-back]

Yes - like that man Schumacher.

His change in 2000 was radically different to his traditional design.

[James North]

Not really, the actual design remained basically the same, he just changed the main colour from white to erm what ever shade of red you want to call it.

[Kicking-back]

Yes, but he lost the blue top as well.

The lines may be the same, but the essence of "his" design is now very different

[Alex Hodgkinson]

Some of the Red Bull drivers have totally red-bull schemed helmets.

[Silk Cut Jaguar]

Originally Posted by James North

Not really, the actual design remained basically the same, he just changed the main colour from white to erm what ever shade of red you want to call it.

Wasn't that because he thought it was too similar to Ruben's design so elected to change it?