Vergne pays tribute to Cevert with special helmet design

The Scuderia Toro Rosso driver wore a helmet painted in Cevert's distinctive colours, albeit with Red Bull logos incorporated.

It is the second time that the Frenchman has paid tribute to one of his countrymen in this way having carried Jean Alesi's helmet design last year.

"I wanted to make another special helmet, last year I did Jean Alesi, this time Francois Cevert," said Vergne when asked about his helmet by AUTOSPORT.

"It's forty years since his death and his sister wrote a book about him this year, so everything makes sense.

"He was the first really famous French driver in F1 and was really well-liked in the paddock, so it is good to give him a tribute."

Cevert was killed during practice for the 1973 United States Grand Prix when he crashed his Tyrrell.

He made his debut in F1 in 1970 and was destined to lead the Tyrrell team in 1974 after team-mate Jackie Stewart retired.

Cevert won one F1 race, the 1971 United States Grand Prix, and his best finish at Monaco was fourth.

Vergne hinted that he plans to continue this the tradition of honouring a former French legend if he has the opportunity next season, but has yet to decide who.

"I don't know, I have one year to think about it," he said.

Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen also carried a tribute to 1976 world champion James Hunt during practice.

The top of his helmet featured an image of Hunt with the words "James Hunt 1976 world champion".

But he is now set to have to cover this up because FOM restrictions on use of lettering facing the onboard camera mean it could be construed as advertising.

Raikkonen said yesterday that "as far as I know" he was going to continue to use the helmet all weekend when asked about it by AUTOSPORT.

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel was also on the spotlight for his special helmet design this weekend.

The Red Bull driver is using heat-activated paint that makes the bikini of the pin-up girl on the back of his helmet vanish as it gets warmer.