Lewis Hamilton told he ‘lost’ one significant part of his F1 identity before joining Ferrari

It has been a difficult start to life at Ferrari for Lewis Hamilton, with the Briton yet to finish on the podium in the red cars.

There was a lot of hype around Hamilton’s switch to Ferrari, but so far it has yet to yield any success, with just a Sprint race victory in China.

Ferrari’s performance in the Hungarian GP potentially exposed a problem with their ability to manage plank wear, which has impacted Hamilton and Charles Leclerc for much of the season.

Even though Hamilton’s success hasn’t been as great as expected, there has still been an uptick in Ferrari merchandise sales since he joined the team. Sales of Ferrari merchandise rose 400% according to figures from Fanatics (via CityAM), in the weeks after he joined Ferrari.

Former F1 driver Derek Daly, who clocked up 49 starts, thinks Hamilton lost one significant part of his identity in the sport before he joined Ferrari when speaking to Autosport.

Photo by ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP via Getty Images

Derek Daly thinks Lewis Hamilton created ‘visual uncertainty’ with helmet design changes

Unlike any other sport, F1 drivers are in a closed-cockpit environment and their faces are shielded off by their helmets which they need to wear for safety.

This is why a lot of drivers like to have their own helmet design, but the complicated patterns and visuals can often make it difficult to tell them apart. Red Bull’s drivers all have the same base design, as do the Mercedes pair, although some drivers have a bit more freedom than others depending on their team’s sponsors and colour palette.

Discussing the topic of driver identity, Daly believes Hamilton has created some uncertainty over his image and association when in the cockpit.

“Dare I say it, but Hamilton has been creating visual uncertainty with his brand in recent years. He is one of the greatest success stories ever in F1 but has lost consistent on-track brand colours. He started with a rich yellow helmet paying homage to his idol Ayrton Senna, and with this colour in the McLaren he was instantly recognisable,” said Daly.

“Through his most successful days, he literally threw away his established colour brand in favour of a white coloured helmet, then a lemon yellow/black version, then a black one followed by purple, then a multi-coloured rainbow piece – which deserved its own credit as a statement of support for the LGBTQ+ community in countries with poor human rights records – before reverting to yellow when he moved to Ferrari.”

Should drivers be forced to keep the same helmet design in F1?

Drivers used to only be allowed to make one change to their helmet design in a season to help with identification.

Sebastian Vettel once changed his helmet twice in three races, which led to the FIA introducing the rule that drivers must keep the same design throughout the season, with one exception.

This rule was scrapped in 2020 after better identification methods were introduced such as the permanent number and the requirement to have it on the back of the engine cover.

Although given drivers can swap helmets to ones that have similar designs to their teammate, it stands to reason that it would generate confusion. Perhaps a rule that ensures drivers do not have designs that are too similar to their competitors or teammates would be a better solution.