Lewis Hamilton made headlines by announcing he’d be moving to race for Ferrari in the 2025 season, making it the most high-profile driver swap ever.
I thought he’d need some ideas for what his new helmet should look like, so I used AI to create some. It did not dissapoint.
Lewis' real helmets
Lewis started competing in Formula 1 with McLaren in 2007, and he took his first championship win the following year in 2008. He stayed with them until the end of 2012, and during that time his helmets were predominantly yellow with large Vodafone branding.
He moved to Mercedes in 2013 where he’ll stay until the end of 2024. In that time he’s won a further 6 World Championships, and his helmets have moved further away from his traditional colour scheme.
His 2020 helmet, for example, was all purple with no yellow to be seen.
In the last couple of seasons some yellow has featured in the designs again. This is his 2024 helmet.
Helmet design of Lewis Hamilton for the 2024 season#lh44 #hamilton #f1 #formula1 #helmet #motorsport #mercedesf1 pic.twitter.com/7BIEwFq6Kc
— F1 Helmets (@F1HLM) February 21, 2024
AI helmet designs
So with all that in mind, it’s time to give Lewis some inspiration for future helmet designs.
At the time of publishing this article there’s almost the entire 2024 season left to run, and knowing Lewis goes for individual designs for specific races I’ve asked AI to come up with some helmet designs for Lewis as a Mercedes driver.
I’ve also asked it to design some helmets for the 2025 season when Lewis will be wearing red and driving for Ferrari.
So here’s the first design. It’s a pretty dark colour scheme with a few flashes of purple, kind of reminiscent of his 2021 helmet design.
The Mercedes badge is sitting front and centre and his racing number 44 is at the back of the helmet.
There’s also a lot of steampunk-esque design going on, plus a lion right on the top. Lewis revealed he has a massive lion tattoo’d on his chest, so it works.
This second design harks back to Lewis’ earlier years of racing by featuring a lot more yellow, which I’m glad to see.
It’s covered in trophies and stars to resemble his numerous title wins, plus logos from sponsors like Crowdstrike and Petronas.
The green that’s associated with the Mercedes F1 team works well with the yellow, and even though it’s a pretty busy design, I could easily believe this is one of Lewis’ real helmets from the past.
Now AI is getting adventurous. Lewis’s pet bulldog Roscoe has been a big part of his life, so big that it’s even made it on to his helmet design.
As have a number of Monster Energy logos, despite the fact they pulled their sponsorship from Merc and Lewis at the end of 2023 and moved to McLaren instead.
What’s this about then. AI has decided to paint a picture of Lewis on the side of his own helmet. Bold.
Not only has it painted a picture of him, but it’s given the 7-time champ a long lock of turquoise hair. I know Lewis has been faithful to his Mercedes team for a long time, but that might be going a bit far.
Also shout out to new sponsors ‘Crudstrike’ and ‘Petronaas’…
Evidently AI thought that putting Lewis’ whole face on the side of his helmet was a bit much. So this time it’s just put his nose and mouth right at the front. Love it.
If the other drivers were ever in doubt which of the Mercedes drivers were behind them on track, if they see this helmet in their mirrors then there’ll be no mistaking who’s hunting them down.
Return of the Roscoe. And return of Lewis’ face. The two of them are evidently inseparable, so much so that they couldn’t bear to be without each other even on the helmet.
Note also the bullet cam attached to the side. Nice idea AI, but technology has moved on. F1 drivers’ helmets now have an even smaller camera embedded in the padding behind the visor.
Another purpley-greeny design emblazened with trophies, a dodgy Mercedes logo and a young-looking Lewis complete with diamond earring. Too busy for my liking.
Now this is too good.
Lewis revealed a few gold teeth at the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix, and AI has taken that information and run with it. Maybe it’s run a little too far as it’s given Lewis a full gold grill right at the front of his lid, but I dig it.
It would look so good if this helmet was worn. His eyes behind the visor would line up with the bottom half of the face and it would look insane.
It’s got his name at the top of his visor and his motto ‘Still I Rise’ just below it. Perfect.
Lewis, if you need a new helmet design before your time with Mercedes is over, I beg you to consider this one.
Other AI helmet designs:
Now AI’s moved on to coming up with a design for Lewis’ 2025 lid when he moves to Ferrari.
In keeping with the team from Maranello the helmet features a lot of red and numerous Ferrari, Shell and Santander logos.
There’s also a lot of white on the helmet, resembling some of Vettel’s Ferrari headwear.
Of course it’s put another picture of Lewis on the helmet, along with a near-perfect representation of his ‘Still I Rise’ logo.
If it wasn’t for the slightly chubby and childish depiction of Lewis on the side of it, this would be a very cool helmet.
Ferrari would probably want their logo to be front and centre in place of the massive Shell one at the top. And those vents at the front probably wouldn’t be allowed. But otherwise, it would be cool.
Stop the press. This is HOT.
If Lewis’ helmet next year looks anything like this then he’s on to an absolute winner.
It’s a fairly simple design compared to most of the ones above but it works so well. It still includes his motto and his race number but is undeniably a Ferrari driver’s helmet.
Lewis, make it happen.
OK, now it’ done him dirty. I asked it to design him a helmet now he’s sad about his run of poor results.
It’s even changed his ‘Still I Rise’ mottor to ‘Still I Fall’…
