Helmet Design
Vettel’s passion for different helmet designs started at a young age, and from his early days in karting, he has worked with helmet designer Jens Munser. At age eight, Vettel wanted the crab from The Little Mermaid, who was also called Sebastian, on his helmet, . Vettel's original helmet, in Formula One, like most Red Bull-backed drivers, was heavily influenced by the energy drink company logo. New to Vettel's helmet since the start of 2008 has been the incorporation of the red cross shape of the Kreis Bergstraße coat of arms on the front, just underneath the visor, in honour of the region of his birthplace, Heppenheim.
After switching to Red Bull in 2009, Sebastian Vettel started regularly using a variety of new helmet designs. Some designs were small changes to his original Red Bull design, while others are completely original designs, such as the one he used at the 2010 Japanese Grand Prix: Vettel had a special white-red helmet design, with black kanji and hiragana for "gives you wings". Several of his helmet designs also featured his team members. At the 2012 Italian Grand Prix, Vettel celebrated his 50th helmet design with a 'rusty' matte look and 50 tallies, indicating his 50 helmet designs.
Vettel started his 2013 campaign with a new design in honour of Felix Baumgartner, for his world record Red Bull Stratos space jump in October 2012.
Helmet manufacturer Arai have said that Vettel 'retires' a helmet design after each win, although he does not need to win in order to sport a new design.
Read more about this topic: Sebastian Vettel
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