In the run-up to the start of pre-season testing Motorsport Week brings you left-field reflections and stories of teams, drivers and reserves that will be part of the Formula 1 paddock in 2019.
Lewis Hamilton stuck to a predominantly yellow helmet design for the early stages of his Formula 1 career but for 2014 moved to a white approach, just as Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg also moved away from the colour for a fierce black scheme.
Hamilton had already run one-off designs during his career, but not to the extent of rival Sebastian Vettel, whose regular changes – retiring a scheme after it won a race – frustrated some fans.
As some other drivers also began to regularly alter their paint scheme the FIA reacted for 2015 and installed a new regulation dictating that helmet liveries must remain predominantly the same, with drivers permitted a single one-off scheme per season, ostensibly for their home event.
Hamilton had hoped to run a striking blue-and-green approach for the second round of the 2015 season in Malaysia, in homage to Mercedes’ title sponsor Petronas, but the FIA deemed that it would have transgressed the regulations.
The helmet was present in the garage but went unused, as Hamilton stuck to his regular design.
