Mark Webber said he was pleased to show fans something a little different when he removed his helmet on the slowdown lap of his final ever Formula 1 race.
The Australian, who will move to Porsche’s WEC team next year, admitted it was a struggle to remove the HANS device and helmet and was surprised by how much noise the helmet blocks out.
“It’s not easy to get the HANS device away from the helmet so I spent half a lap trying to get the left hand side off,” he explained. “I finally got it there but the cars are bloody noisy with no helmet on, I know that much…
“So it was really noisy, all the vibrations and you can hear lots of things that you don’t want to be hearing with the helmet on, that’s for sure.”
Whilst most celebrate with the odd donut, Webber wanted to show fans something different.
“In this sport, it’s not always easy to show the person that’s behind the wheel,” he added. “We can in lots of other sports but in Formula 1 we’ve always got the helmet on so it was nice to drive back with the helmet off.
“The only time you’re seen with the helmet off is on the podium if we have a good day.”
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