All F1 teams have finally unveiled their cars ahead of the 2023 season and now the focus has shifted to some personal identification for the drivers, who have taken turns at showcasing their helmets to onlookers.
Pretty much everything surrounding Lewis Hamilton seems to gather traction and his helmet reveal was no different.
F1 drivers have started using their helmets to express a lot of social messages in the recent past, with recently-retired Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton paving the way in this regard.
However, FIA asked drivers not to make any political or social statements, saying that failure to comply could lead to a severe penalty or even temporary expulsion.
Hamilton had said that he was willing to risk this and that the governing body could not dictate what he chose to speak about.
“Anything critical of or hostile to others’ religious or spiritual beliefs would be against the rule,” a FIA statement read.
However, Hamilton is sporting a a design on his helmet that underlines ‘rainbow accents’.
This undoubtedly shows that Hamilton has stuck true to his word and has taken up the LGBTQ cause with the design.
Further inspection of FIA’s statement explains why the governing body wants to limit drivers’ speech and where they would be under such an embargo.
“The updates cement the FIA’s long-standing commitment to protecting motorsport’s neutrality and will particularly ensure neutrality during key moments across all motor sport competitions, such as podiums, national anthems and official activities ‘on the field of play’.
“It does not impose any additional restrictions on individuals expressing their views outside of these times.
“That implies that a driver might be punished if, for example, they were to wear a rainbow t-shirt or race helmet on a Grand Prix weekend, without permission, as criticism of a country’s lack of LGBT+ rights.”
The fact that FIA has specifically mentioned rainbow helmets and rainbow t-shirts is not the greatest news for Hamilton.
The seven-time world champion seems to have openly disregarded the governing body’s statement and those in power may look at making an example of him by imposing a strong penalty.
It is worth noting that Hamilton isn’t the only driver who was not impressed with FIA restricting their freedom of speech.
At McLaren’s MCL60 launch, Lando Norris had also expressed his discontentment at FIA’s rule and felt such bans could make drivers feel like robots.
“We are not at school. We shouldn’t have to ask about everything. ‘Can we do this? Can we do that?’ We are grown up enough to make smart decisions. Enough drivers have said things now to push back,” Norris said.
“We should be able to say what we want and what we believe in.”