Gasly reveals Senna tribute helmet ahead of F1’s Imola return

For many F1 fans, Imola will always conjure up memories of Ayrton Senna, who lost his life along with Austrian racer Roland Ratzenberger at the circuit back in 1994. And ahead of the track’s return to the F1 calendar in 2020, AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly has revealed a special Senna tribute helmet that he’ll be sporting for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Gasly spent time on his Friday morning track walk at Imola visiting the crash sites at Tamburello and Villeneuve corners where Senna and Ratzenberger lost their lives, before later in the day revealing the Senna tribute helmet on his social media accounts.

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“Tribute to Ayrton this weekend,” he wrote. “Remembering one of my idol[s] with this special helmet. Legends are never forgotten.”

Gasly's tribute helmet features Senna’s distinctive ‘auriverde’ Brazilian flag colour scheme, while the Honda legend adorning the visor will be evocative to many F1 fans, with Senna having been powered to all three of his world titles by the Japanese firm’s engines.

Gasly’s is not the first Senna tribute helmet to have been seen in F1, meanwhile, with Lewis Hamilton having sported several designs paying homage to the Brazilian over the years – including most recently at the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix – while Rubens Barrichello also incorporated his fellow countryman’s colours into his helmet design at the 1995 and 2011 Brazilian races.