Max Verstappen is the first driver to reveal his special helmet for the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix, as he aims to equal Sebastian Vettel‘s record of nine Formula 1 wins in a row.
Verstappen broke cover early with the design, a week and a half before he’ll take to track sporting the lid, in front of the most partisan home crowd on the F1 calendar.
Verstappen‘s worn a special helmet in all three Dutch GP since Zandvoort returned to F1, though his is arguably his best effort, with some more subtle design cues than in 2021 and 2022.
We’re yet to see if any other drivers will release a special helmet design, Nyck de Vries would’ve surely followed suit as the only other Dutchman in F1.
However, with him replaced by Daniel Ricciardo at AlphaTauri, there’s not really any other obvious candidates.
Max Verstappen
Revealing the design wearing his orange Red Bull baseball cap sitting in front of a table draped in the Dutch flag, there was little doubt over what the helmet would be.
He’s set the Dutch flag as the backdrop of his lion logo atop the lid, and done one side of the helmet with red details and the other side in blue.
Retaining the white backdrop of his usual design, the red and blue meet in the middle at the back of the helmet.
The downside is that if his Dutch GP goes the same way as his Belgian or Hungarian weekends, the helmet likely won’t get too much TV time as he clears off to take another easy victory.
“It’s pretty Dutch,” Verstappen said. “I thought this time we go more with the flag and I think it’s a great result, I hope it will look good on track as well, I hope you like it.”
Where is the next F1 2023 race?
F1 will return from its summer break with the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix from Zandvoort on August 25-27, where championship leader Max Verstappen will be racing on home soil.
