F1 Helmet Livery Changes Out for 2015

[cosworth151]

In a move to make F1 a little more bland, the F.I.A. will no longer allow  F1 drivers to change their helmet liveries during the season.

I agree with Alex Wurz. "I am a fan of consistency," the former F1 driver  said on Twitter, "but seriously! What's next? Rules on haircut?"

http://autoweek.com/article/formula-one/fia-rules-against-season-helmet-livery-changes-formula-one-drivers

[Scott]

Here's a compromise.  Make a disk along the top of the helmet one colour the entire season.  Let them do whatever they like with the rest.

I hope the drivers start pushing the limit a bit and fight back (like Lynch at the Superbowl -  - every question he was asked in the pre-game interviews was answered with 'I'm only here so I don't get fined').

[Jericoke]

Wasn't the point of individual numbers so that drivers could be easily identified?

[Alianora La Canta]

I can sort of see the FIA's point - it is difficult to identify with a driver who's forever changing helmets unless there is only one such driver on the grid - but it would surely have sufficed to require FIA permission for the 3rd helmet design in a given season. We are not discussing three-year-olds.

The bigger news is that the powers that be managed to agree on something that isn't downright inimical to F1...

[John S]

I'm in agreement with the FIA, for once, footballers and other sports people can't change their uniform just as they like so why are F1 drivers allowed to? With all the safety, and centre of gravity design considerations, enclosing and lowering the drivers the helmet has become the only part we can see; so it's really the only bit of his uniform that needs to be consistent.

They can still design the skid lids colour schemes anyway they want, they just have to live with their wacky ideas all season now - real shame ain't it. 

 

[Jericoke]

I'm in agreement with the FIA, for once, footballers and other sports people can't change their uniform just as they like so why are F1 drivers allowed to? With all the safety, and centre of gravity design considerations, enclosing and lowering the drivers the helmet has become the only part we can see; so it's really the only bit of his uniform that needs to be consistent.

They can still design the skid lids colour schemes anyway they want, they just have to live with their wacky ideas all season now - real shame ain't it. 

You can already narrow down a driver to one in two just by the general colour of the car (which isn't technically static, will that be locked down too?), which is then differentiated by the camera box and the driver's personal number.

That's more than you get for identifying a soccer player, who is bound to change his haircut over the course of a season.

[Alianora La Canta]

Given that half the grid looks grey at first glance, the numbers are practically invisible (and aren't visible due to sponsor demands) and that the airbox trick only works for the occasions when it's in shot, that doesn't help too much.

And footballers usually have their surnames on the back of the shirts, which gives the game away fairly reliably.

[Scott]

In football I can generally only read the players name when they are standing still.  I can recognize a driver when they are standing still too. 

The problem is that the teams/FIA aren't wiling to devote enough of the car to identifying the driver.  I don't think the helmet is the answer.  Lots of drivers donate their 'special' helmets to charity and I do like that, and am pleased if they change every race.  Like I said before, there is no problem if they have to devote a disk on the top of the helmet for ID purposes.  Otherwise the teams could devote a bit more of the car for the same reason.  Ditch the number ID and use the 3 letter code they use for each driver on T&S.  Throw it on the very top of the airbox or the front of the nose, in either yellow or red letters to additionally help ID the car/driver.

It's not brain surgery.  Bernie's problem is that he thinks some of the drivers are keeping their special helmets (maybe they are - who really cares?) and that is what Bernie would like to think is an F1 asset and he doesn't like it when someone figures out a way to make more money in F1 if it isn't him.   

[Irisado]

I feel like blaming Vettel for this, because it was a non-issue before he starting changing his helmet design every weekend.

I think that drivers should stick to the same helmet colours and design during the season, except for perhaps the odd one off change for a charity event, competition, or tribute.  The frequency of helmet livery changes was getting a bit silly in my opinion, so I'm not opposed to the rule change.

[lkjohnson1950]

To me it's the FIA grabbing a bit more power by inventing an issue where none exists. It's the driver's helmet, let him decorate it however he pleases.

[Scott]

Bernie brought the issue to the F1 Commission, not the FIA.  It is Bernie stirring the pot again.

[John S]

To me it's the FIA grabbing a bit more power by inventing an issue where none exists. It's the driver's helmet, let him decorate it however he pleases.

I agree that the driver should be free to decorate it how they like, however changing it sometimes for every race has made a mockery of it being an identifying item of the driver.

A few drivers have caused this to become an issue, most drivers I suspect wont be bothered at all about the new rule.

Like others I think the perfidious few have caused a problem for the use of charity or homage helmets, lets hope the powers that be can cut some slack for occasional hat changes.

I fear however with responses like "I'll pay any fines to keep changing helmet designs" attributed to the most perfidious - one Sebastian Vettel - no relaxation will be allowed 

[Andy B]

Its easy, each drivers helmet has to be painted as a replica of themselves with stick on hair so it will look like a bloke with a big head is driving the car. Entertaining and practical! 

[lkjohnson1950]

Well, you can see the car, so there are only 2 probable and 1 possible drivers to begin with. Each car is supposed to carry an ID number unique to the driver as well as a unique camera color. Bernie just remembers guys like Hill and Clark who settled on a design and kept it. To me it's just another example of too many rules restricting the creativity of the sport. A car as revolutionary as the Lotus 78 or even the Brawn is simply impossible under the current system and that's a shame.

[cosworth151]

I agree with Lonnie. I'm old enough to remember when most all helmets were white, just plain white. That was why ones like Gurney's all black of G. Hill's London Rowing Club copy stood out.

As I'm typing this, I'm looking at a photo in the Gallery box at the left of the screen. I took the photo in the Museum at The Speedway. It's the memorial helmet that Ralf Schumacher wore in the 2001 U.S.G.P. That race was held just weeks after the 9/11 attacks. I'm reminded that such fine things would be banned under the new edict.

http://www.gpwizard.co.uk/forum/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view;id=1156

Anyway, how many people can make out the helmets all that well in a live action shot on TV?

There's always the method that used to work very well. See if you can identify the drivers of these two cars from Silverstone 1967. I think most people would look at the helmet of the Ferrari driver & think it was Pete Aron.