Ahead of the 2024 Chinese GP, Alex Albon revealed a ‘panda design’ helmet that quickly became the talk of the paddock. Now, the man behind the design reveals how he and Albon drew inspiration from seven-time Moto GP World Champion Valentino Rossi.
Rossi sported a helmet in 2009 that had the print of a donkey on it. It went on to become one of the most iconic helmet designs of all time, and Albon decided to do something similar ahead of F1’s return to Shanghai last month.
On the Fast and the Curious podcast, the man who helped Albon design this helmet – Miles Murphy said that having a panda on the print was always the Williams’ driver’s idea. However, they took the idea of how to incorporate it from Rossi’s donkey helmet.
Initially, they discussed the idea of having a real panda or cartoon panda print but went for an “anime-style one” instead.
“We thought we’d just make the whole helmet look like a panda. Because it actually [drew] inspirations from Valentino Rossi. Do you remember the donkey helmet?”
Miles went on to say that from the front on, Rossi’s helmet was just a donkey in the face. Albon took a similar approach with the panda, and it was one of the most unique designs in F1, lately.
The story behind Valentino Rossi’s iconic donkey helmet
Valentino Rossi, one of the biggest legends in the world of motorsports, also had a great sense of humor. He made a mistake during a race in Indianapolis, following which he decided to label himself as a “donkey”.
Rossi thought it was funny because in his home country (Italy), whenever a driver would make a mistake, they would be called a donkey. The then-Yamaha rider thus, decided to print a donkey on his helmet. As quoted by Bike Sport News, he said,
“I have the donkey on it because in Italy, if you make a stupid mistake we say that you are a donkey. I made a mistake in Indy so this is why! I think it’s very funny!”
Albon didn’t choose the panda because he associated himself with the animal, or because pandas would make mistakes on the F1 track. Pandas are indigenous to China, and Albon wanted to highlight that fact. The Giant Panda, in fact, is listed as vulnerable in the IUCN conversation status. The Thai-British driver wanted the world’s attention to be on that fact.
