Lewis Hamilton will be wearing a funky new helmet for the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka this weekend. It has been a mixed season for Hamilton, with the Brit who signed a new two-year deal with Mercedes last month achieving five podium finishes, meaning he has risen to third in the drivers’ standings.
However, Hamilton and his team and have been well off the pace of the dominant Red Bull, who are able to win the constructors’ championship in Japan, despite there being six more races still to come this season.
The music icons split in 2021 but they were renowned for the way they assumed robot personas for public appearances, with helmets, outfits and gloves to disguise their identities.
Japan’s race weekend began on Friday with practice and Hamilton is sporting a new look for the action. Eagle-eyed viewers may have noticed the Brit wearing a bespoke helmet design, which looked markedly like the helmets worn by former dance duo Daft Punk.
Hamilton who is well known for his fashion and has his own brand, PLUS 44 shared photos of his new design on Instagram on Friday and revealed he had been working with famous Japanese illustrator Hajime Sorayama.
Sorayama also shared a post of the pair and said: ‘@LewisHamilton. You shall win Suzuka.’The most unique feature of the design is the fluorescent strip on the centre of the visor, which allows the helmet to illuminate.
‘It was a really bad day, to be honest,’ he said. ‘A real struggle out there. ‘We were a long way off, two seconds off in the first session and over a second off in the second. We’re working away at just trying to fix the car’s balance.’
Hamilton endured a tough start in Suzuka however, coming 16th and 14th in Friday’s practice sessions. One week on from his impressive podium finish in Singapore, Hamilton bemoaned his Mercedes car’s lack of balance and cut a dejected figure in the paddock in the aftermath.
