Walking into his sixteenth year of racing, Lewis Hamilton has stood for many causes and protests throughout his racing career. Whether it was paying homages to older drivers or global movements like the black lives movement, he has stood strong and not deterred.
Today we look at one of the things he stood for respecting his childhood racing hero Ayrton Senna. Senna tragically died during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix in a racing accident at the Imola Circuit in Italy. Painful to note here is that Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger died the previous day during qualifying.
Lewis Hamilton sports a yellow helmet out of respect
When you have an extremely fast kid in a go-kart with a bright yellow helmet, it’s tough not to notice him. Lewis Hamilton has had this yellow helmet with a striking design since his karting days. The significance behind this yellow colour is to pay homage to his childhood hero Ayrton Senna who hailed from Brazil. Thereby paying respect to his hero’s nationality.
It was not just a plain yellow helmet, as he had some blue and green lines, with the addition of a red line. However, since 2014 Lewis Hamilton has started to move towards having more red on his helmet but preserved yellow elements. Lewis got extremely emotional during the 2017 Canadian Grand Prix when he equalled Senna’s record of race wins and the Senna family gifted him with Ayrton’s helmet.
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The significant stripes on the helmet
Experts have shared their two cents on Hamilton’s helmet, with the first one being designer Sid Mosca told the yellow base symbolising youth, with a green stripe embodying aggression and a blue stripe relating to his fast movement. The red stripe is supposed to relate to Lewis’s undying fire, which has secured him seven world championships.
As years went by, Lewis had to make some drastic changes, with the first one starting in 2020. He started using a black helmet with purple stripes to reinforce the Black Lives Matter movement, which was catching on globally. This was a huge drift from his usual yellow helmet, which he had been using for almost two years. However, it was necessary for him to make a statement and stand with the oppressed.
Lewis Hamilton is known for his style and glamour and this was a display of just that. Let us know in the comments what you think about his Yellow Senna Inspired helmet.
