Ten best F1 helmet designs – Villeneuve, Hill and other iconic helmets

Having their own helmet colours helped establish stronger brand identities - something that is missing from F1 now.

From times before sponsor names dominated helmet real estate to smartly incorporated company motifs, the evolution of helmet design reflects the changes within F1 while also giving a nod to the past in shared designs used by both the Hills and Villeneuves father and son collaborations.

Sometimes all it takes is a colour to be instantly recognisable to a driver. It takes a brave driver to pull off the vibrant yellow intrinsically connected to Ayrton Senna or the bright red to Michael Schumacher claimed as his own during his Ferrari and Mercedes years.

Here, the AUTOSPORT team chooses 10 helmet designs that we believe are the most iconic in the sport's history. Disagree? Let us know on our Facebook page or using #autosportF1 on Twitter.

Ayrton Senna

Distinctive yellow, green and blue of Brazilian national flags is perhaps F1's most famous helmet.

In the same way racing numbers are retired, unless you have special blessing from the Senna family it is almost sacrilegious to use the colours of his home nation, such is the affinity and connection the late driver has to F1 and his nation's representation in the sport.

Looking to stand out from the crowd, Senna did experiment with a range of different colour and design combinations until growing an kinship with his nation's traditional colours. Senna stuck with the design for 15 years until his tragic death with only small tweaks, changing the blue stripes to black, despite changing helmet makers during his career.

Nigel Mansell

Union jack colours remained with the 1992 world champion through his entire career and the striking design not only provided ample space for his range of sponsors but also formed a forward-facing arrow pointing to his visor.

It created a subtle appearance that could still strike through as instantly recognisable as Mansell even between F1 team moves with it not looing out of place behind the wheel of a Lotus, a Williams or a Ferrari.

Nelson Piquet

Another design which remerged later in F1 history when his son used it, Nelson Piquet's teardrop was a stylish trademark for the Brazilian and stood out in the open cockpits and block colours used by other drivers.

The ribbon of red weaving around the teardrop was a convenient place to display sponsors with prominence, including long-time backers Parmalat, without disrupting the clean look of the overall design which reflected the times and emerging trends in the 1980s.

Gilles Villeneuve

The stylised red V on dark background was designed with his wife Joann and displayed a unique stamp to mark out the iconic Canadian driver. It quickly became a design synonymous with Ferrari thanks to its complimentary styling and matching scarlet red paint scheme.

The style is also thought to have inspired other drivers to pay tribute to him after his tragic death during qualifying for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix, while his son Jacques used the same fundamental design as tribute and incorporated his own individual colours.

Graham Hill

Graham Hill became one of the first drivers in the history of F1 to gain immediate recognition through his helmet design by keeping loyal to his midnight blue base colour with white oars having taken the motif from the London Rowing Club - having competed to an international level back in the 1950s.

The design was carried over into his son Damon's helmet, but in Hill Snr's day with open face helmets the eight oars sat neatly on the dome of the head where space was more limited.

Jacques Villeneuve

Bright colours and a design inspired by his father's helmet (there's a 'V' in there, just about) were very much in keeping with the fashion during the 1990s when his career took off competing at Formula 3 level.

The multi-coloured look was inspired by a jumper his mother once wore, but it also matched his personality which would blossom in F1. Known for being loud and outspoken throughout his career, Villeneuve stood out as much as his helmet design did.

Inspiration came through doodling on a drawing pad, something any youngster aspiring to become the next F1 superstar did, but rather than a random thought process, Villeneuve gave great attention to detail with a nod to his father's V design.

The colours would later clash with the bold and brazen Winfield Williams livery in 1998 and the half and half BAR effort from 1999 but from the trackside or the grandstands it made the Canadian stand out from the rest.

Emerson Fittipaldi

Another Brazilian F1 driver with a strong sense for colour and design, the famous red sweeps were put on either a dark blue or black background throughout his career in single-seater racing.

The design would also be complimented by a small print of the Brazilian flag, a staple sight for almost any driver from the South American nation, which would be joined by stickers of his main sponsors of the time ranging from Café Do Brazil to Marlboro to Boss.

Ronnie Peterson

There were no prizes for guessing his nationality purely from his helmet design as the simple blue and yellow colours gave an unmistakable resemblance for the Swedish flag.

Peterson's helmet was also famous for his 'peak' above the visor which very few drivers used in his era, and painted yellow it ensured the Swede stood out.

The undisturbed bold blue that covered the helmet gave ample space for his various sponsors logos.

Marcus Ericsson would go on to pay tribute to Peterson by replicating his design.

Jean Alesi

The red and black lines on the white background were an homage to Elio de Angelis, and later on Alesi switched to a chrome look.

Alesi ensured his individuality with the blue peacock feather design on the top of the helmet, something which inspired Jean-Eric Vergne to pay tribute to during the 2012 Monaco Grand Prix as his hero was competing in the Indianapolis 500 that year.

Jackie Stewart

There is no denying Jackie Stewart was proud Scotsman during his racing career thanks to his simplistic tartan band that helped him to stand out in the pre-sponsor days of F1.

The plain white helmet dressed with the Royal Stewart tartan, from the House of Stewart, is also the personal tartan of Queen Elizabeth II - while it appears on biscuit tins for the Scottish shortbread.

Given his heritage and design there was no chance of mistaking the three-time F1 world champion for any other driver during his career.