As we are just a few weeks away from the opening round of the 2011 Formula 1 season, here’s a photo gallery of the helmets of the F1 drivers.
Note that a few drivers, notably Jenson Button and Nick Heidfeld have changed the colour scheme of their helmets, usually to meet the requests of their teams’ sponsors.
The gallery will also help you to recognise the helmets of the newcomers who are Sergio Perez (Sauber), Paul di Resta (Force India), Pastor Maldonado (Williams) and Jerome D’Ambrosio (Marussia Virgin).
This year, three helmet manufacturers are involved in F1, namely Bell, Arai and Schuberth.
The shells of these space age helmets are made of several layers of carbon fibre, and the paddings are hand made to fit perfectly the drivers’ head.
Each helmet, complete with lightweight HANS’s posts and shield cost approximately $4000.
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| Michael Schumacher (Photo: WRI2) |
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| Adrian Sutil (Photo: WRI2) |
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| Jarno Trulli (Photo: WRI2) |
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| Sebastian Vettel (Photo: WRI2) |
