Heraclitus of Ephesus famously said: “there is nothing permanent except change”. Clearly, the Greek philosopher could not foresee Formula One’s governing body the FIA banning in-season helmet design tweaks in 2015.
Indeed, F1 drivers must now stick to the helmet decoration they raced (or attempted to race…) with in Melbourne’s season-opening round. Gone are the limited editions, one-off liveries, mood swings, and other short-terms fads.
Some drivers had actually become experts in helmet design swapping (yes, Mr. Vettel we’re talking about you) and would don a different carbon headwear at every Grand Prix. The FIA felt this made driver recognition difficult for the public and thus elected to rubber-stamp the ban ahead of the 2015 season.
Another thing that, thankfully, does not change in the realm of F1 crash helmets this year is the very high Snell SA2010 and FIA 8860-2010 safety standards any helmet has to comply with. These criteria are mostly based on the requirements set by the Snell Memorial Foundation, a US non-profit organisation that has been testing and developing helmet safety standards since its inception in 1957.
While all the helmets seen on the 2015 F1 grid had to pass the same FIA-sponsored crash tests, they obviously sport a different look depending on their respective owner’s liking. And since there’s no accounting for taste…
So what about you? Which model do you fancy most among the 2015 helmet designs shown over the next pages?
