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racingliners · 26 days ago

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Helmet Watch 2025

It's me, hi! I'm back to yell about the driver's helmets for another season, it's me.

If you're new here, Helmet Watch is the sister to Livery Watch where I give my opinions and rate each driver's core helmet design for the upcoming season. And thanks to the powers that be (aka the F1 instagram account) I have HQ shots of all the helmets before the start of pre-season testing! As ever all the drivers will be listed in alphabetical order by surname and hopefully I don't have to update this due to any mid-season driver swaps.

Everything's under the cut, let's go!

Alexander Albon (Williams)

Starting off strong for the third year running with Alex! This is a great evolution of his core design from last year only with the very welcome addition of more baby pink.

I just love how Alex has embraced the blue and pink colour scheme for his core helmet, it feels really unique and identifiable to him but still compliments the Williams blues livery very nicely.

I really enjoy the zig zag lines - they both stand out and are in the same bubble style as Alex's double A logo, and the bright blue visor is just *chef's kiss*. It's bright enough that it adds a lot of dimension to the helmet, but it's not so bright that it overshadows the helmet as a whole. Alas, I have to deduct a point for it being matte.

9/10

Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)

Nobody should put baby (the Aston Martin wings) in a corner. And yet...

I do think it takes the overall look of the helmet down as with the wings now being in a small corner as opposed to coming off the end of the visor (which, was such a great design choice) makes it look like a rushed after thought. And despite how the rest of Fernando's helmet is virtually unchanged from last season, I have to deduct points as a matter of Team Green pride.

5.5/10

Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes)

Just in case we'd all forgotten that Kimi's Italian we have the red, white and green of the tricolore and the Azzuri blue of the Italian football and rugby union strips making up the colour scheme of his 2025 helmet.

As a colour palette, it definitely works, and I do once again enjoy the blue visor. I just can't help but feel that the colour blocking pattern and line work is a bit too busy. The stars on top are definitely fun, they just feel like a bit of a last minute add on. But, I have to give kudos to the blue having a soft semi-metallic shimmer to it - it adds a much needed bit of dimension to the helmet.

6/10

Oliver Bearman (Haas)

Gonna be real, I had hoped Ollie would be using the second of his reserve duty helmets from last year that had the medium blue section swapped out for a bright white - but I do think it looks a lot better alongside the Haas logo as opposed to the Ferrari branding he ran in Saudi Arabia last year.

I think the neon yellow is so fun (more neon helmets in 2025 please!) and the bear logo on top is such a great design choice. I think the polygons (I have no idea what to call them) flow really well around the helmet. Overall the helmet is gonna look really good with the 2025 Haas livery, and it's even glossy!!!

7.5/10

Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber)

I can't say that I'm surprised to see a Brazilian driver (and notably the first full-time Brazilian driver on the grid since 2016) running a very heavily Senna inspired design. I do enjoy the kinda-blocky kinda-geometric pattern that does a lot to make Bortoleto's helmet look really modern, and I like the choice to use a navy blue as opposed to the brighter blue used on the Brazilian flag just for something different.

Overall I think it's just fine, I'm not overly wowed but it's far from being the worst helmet on the grid. (And kudos for it being glossy, of course).

6.5/10

Jack Doohan (Alpine)

This helmet feels like a mid-00s throwback in a way, both with the saturated colours and really bold shapes with the white bordering. I am however glad for the soft metallic sheen in the blue sections and the swirl-esque patten in the black section and it makes the helmet much more interesting to look at.

I'm very glad to see that it's glossy, but sadly apart from that this helmet doesn't do much for me. But I have to give points for it looking so unique design wise compared to the rest of the grid.

6/10

Pierre Gasly (Alpine)

*insert joke about how I can't see the helmet because of the camouflage pattern here*

Pierre's helmet was one of my favourites from last season, and I'm really glad to see that he's kept the overall colour scheme despite the camo makeover. I have to say I really like the sections that have the navy blue to sky blue gradient, it adds just the right amount of dimension without taking away from the main camo print or making the helmet look too busy.

The splashes of white and matching blue visor really are the perfect finishing touches.

10/10

Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls)

This is just so fun. I love the neon yellow first of all, it's going to add some much needed colour to the Racing Bulls garage and I just love neon helmets in general (see: Bearman and Lawson). But my favourite part of this helmet is the STUNNING nebula pattern that's in the dark sections of the design. I'm a massive space enthusiast so I of course absolutely love it.

If I could change one thing, I would make the neon parts of the helmet glossy just for extra contrast. But apart from that I have zero notes.

9/10

Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari)

Not gonna lie, I did have some pretty high expectations about what Lewis' first Ferrari helmet was going to look like. And as much as I want to like this... I just doesn't quite hit for me as much as I want it to.

The crème finish sunflower yellow base is perfectly in keeping with Lewis' original helmet design he started with in 2007, and the angled half-stripes with stars design still makes it look like a Lewis Hamilton helmet. I just miss the additional blue and green that was also a part of Lewis' core helmet design, as well as the 'Still I Rise' typography on the back. I'm so used to Lewis running bright and bold helmet designs that this just feels a bit too simplified to me.

HOWEVER, as we know, I do enjoy a matching/co-ordinating helmet visor, so I will add on half a point for the red-to-orange duo-chrome visor used here.

7.5/10

Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber)

Not quite a copy and paste from last year's design and more a copy, paste and let's delete a bunch of stuff. I am very glad and relieved to see that the paint splatter effect is still on the front part of the helmet, and I think the Stake/Kick acid green and splashes of white gives some much needed colour to the design.

For once I don't mind the exposed carbon base because it's glossy, and the gloss finish brings out the dimension that carbon fibre has so much better. Overall I just think it's a bit too dark, and looks too plain from the side.

5/10

Liam Lawson (Red Bull)

First off, I got so caught up in all the mid-season driver swaps we had last year that I completely forgot to add Lawson to my Livery Watch 2024 post, so sorry about that. Secondly: NEON PINK!!!

I really like it, I think the colour scheme as a whole just works. It does make me wish that the Red Bull logo could be a different colour because it and the helmet colours don't really go together. In terms of the design layout, I wish the pink and white sections could be swapped round so we could get even more colour (because the RBR livery badly needs it). But apart from that this is a solid helmet design.

7/10

Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)

This feels like a hybrid of his Monaco helmet from last year and Ferrari's Las Vegas livery from 2023, and I like it!

To quote Lewis' instagram comment, it's a really clean design. I like the inverted red and white lines when they cross over into the different half of the helmet - and the design overall feels somewhat retro inspired which I really enjoy. I do take issue with the number 16 though, I'm not sure if the right font was used here as it stands out a bit too much for me.

7.5/10

Lando Norris (McLaren)

Pretty much an exact copy and paste from his 2024 helmet, but with more ✨blobbyness✨

Honestly, if it ain't broke - don't fix it. My thoughts from last year about this being a great design definitely still stand. It's very bright and very fun and I don't have anything to complain about.

10/10

Esteban Ocon (Haas)

Estie Bestie has once again delivered. While his 2023 red and black helmet will forever be my favourite, this is a very respectable second place. I quite like having the 31 be so prominent because the way it's been drawn makes it flow into the rest of the design well, you almost don't immediately notice that it's his driver number which I kind of like. While you can't see it in this picture I love the return of the Eiffel Tower motif on the top of his helmet, and I love that it's glossy too. This is a great helmet to kick start his time at Haas.

9/10

Oscar Piastri (McLaren)

Can we please have a brief moment of commotion for the orange-to-pink duo-chrome visor? Excellent, thank you.

So, like a lot of other drivers this is an evolution from his helmet from last year, only with some of the blue patterned sections swapped out for black. I'm not 100% sure how I feel about it, but it does contrast well with the neon red and bright yellow colour blocks.

I do wish that the thin blue outlines were holographic silver like what Oscar had on his 2023 helmet though, I think that would really elevate the design as a whole and look much more fun.

8/10

George Russell (Mercedes)

Also another copy and paste from last year's helmet, though the Mercedes star is more sparkly this year which is love! As ever I love the matching tinted blue visor and the shade of blue on the base is stunning, but I miss the thin lines of darker blue shading - this version of the design looks a lot more plain without them.

And it's also matte. George WHY?!

7/10

Carlos Sainz Jr. (Williams)

Gonna be very brutally honest and say that the Spanish flag colours just does not work with the medium blue used here. If it had been a lighter sky blue or even baby blue I think it would look so much nicer but... I just don't think this looks good.

The geometric elements of this design are fun but as a whole, it's not for me.

4.5/10

Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

Watching an old Aston Martin Insider video from 2021 made me realise just how much I miss Lance having the Aston Martin wings on his helmet. If you're new here, this is a copy and paste from his 2024 helmet, which in itself is a repeat of the helmet design Lance used in European F3, just in Aston Martin colours.

Don't get me wrong, I think the design is good. There's been some changes from last year's helmet in that all the lime green bits of shading are now white and the helmet is now a matte finish instead of gloss which I had to deduct half a point by default. As a whole the helmet is fun and distinctive, I just prefer so many of Lance's previous helmets compared to this.

6.5/10

Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls)

By far without a shadow of a doubt hands down my favourite iteration of the Japanese Maple Leaf design that Yuki has ran since 2023. I love the switched up colour scheme with orange leaves on the plain white base - I also think that having some leaves be full colour and some just outlines is a perfect design choice.

The way the Red Bull logo has been placed feels really intentional and as such the placement of it blends in really well with the rest of the design. Also the gold visor is quite literally perfect.

10/10

Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

it honestly really bothers me that the apex of where the blue, white and red meet isn't centred. The chrome silver accents are nice and the colour clocking is very fun but every time I look at this I am just filled with the urge to physically move things around.

5.5/10

Honourable Mention: Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes 3rd Driver)

Oh you know I had to talk about this. If I had the means to give out a trophy for the Helmet Watch Award for Helmet Design Excellence, the 2025 edition would be going to Valtteri without hesitation.

The swirly water marble design is just so eye catching, especially with the use of two different shades of black/grey, and Petronas teal with white as an accent colour. And the lines of sparkly silver that outline the angular black sections are just sooooo pretty. *chef's kiss*

I think this should be the textbook example of a team colours driver helmet, it's on brand for Mercedes but still has it's own unique identity. Huge props to Valtteri's partner Tiffany for once again knocking it out of the park

10/10

#happy testing eve and happy helmet watch to all who celebrate!!!#Formula 1 #Helmet #Helmet Watch #2025 #Helmet Watch 2025

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