Lewis Hamilton says he will give pride of place to the Ayrton Senna helmet he was presented with after today’s qualifying session in Canada.
The world champion was presented with the original helmet used by Senna 30 years ago after equalling his hero’s tally of 65 pole positions. Only Michael Schumacher has taken more pole positions than Senna and Hamilton.
Hamilton said he told his Mercedes team they needed “every single millisecond” from the car to take pole position this weekend.
“The car was difficult at the beginning of yesterday,” he said. “I felt like I was already at the limit of the car. So we really sat down and studied, tried to see whether we could eke out a little more juice from it. Which we did.”
“And I sent a message to my guys before qualifying saying ‘guys we need everything to be on point: shifts, everything, engine operating perfectly, we need every single millisecond that the car can give us today’. And they did that.”
“The first lap I wanted to get a banker so I focused on making sure I got that banker, which was already great. Then I was a little bit unsure if I’d get the next lap because I only had fuel for one lap and this tyre being as difficult as it is to warm up, I just worked as hard as I could and it worked perfectly.
“Bit by bit through the lap I could see my delta building up, getting excited but trying not to get too ahead of myself. At the time, while I was doing the lap, I had no comprehension that I was going massively quicker. It was just about the here and now.”
Palle (@palle)
10th June 2017, 22:08
Really stunning performance and stunning present – the implication that went through my mind, when I saw the helmet – WOW. Looking forward to the race tomorrow.
That said, I have to correct the article: “The World Champion…” Rosberg has that title until the end of this season!
lubhz (@lubhz)
11th June 2017, 0:19
Hi @KeithCollantine is there information about who gave him the helmet or where it had been kept for all these years?
Ben
11th June 2017, 1:28
It’s a race-worn helmet that the Senna family had and gave to Hamilton.
Ben
11th June 2017, 1:34
Follow-up correction about the helmet from Autosport:
Although it was suggested in the presentation that the helmet given to him was an actual race-worn one, it subsequently emerged this was not the case.
Instead, the one given to Hamilton on Saturday was a replica of a 1987 helmet.
The original, which has huge value, remains in the hands of the family and will be presented to Hamilton later on.
The Senna family has now clarified to Autosport that the helmet that will be given to Hamilton is not one that was actually raced.
Instead, it is one that was used for promotional purposes – such as photos and marketing appearances – during the 1987 season.
It was made to the same specification as a race helmet and was painted by Sid Mosca and his son Alan – who are the only people who ever painted helmets for Senna in F1.
Sergey Martyn
11th June 2017, 8:11
Hey, three more poles and Lewis will get Schumacher’s helmet too!
Daniel
11th June 2017, 13:26
Well, I can’t wait to see Hamilton break Schumacher’s pole record. It never felt right to see him break Senna’s record, and with Hamilton for me it’ll be in better hands. I remember when Senna passed the 60 poles mark, everybody said it was unbreakable, much like we say about Schumacher’s race wins record today.
Don’t get me wrong, Schumacher is a genius, the most complete driver ever, but I think the pole record will be better with some of the “fast and furious” type.
Loup Garou (@loup-garou)
11th June 2017, 10:20
The above editorial says “The World Champion was presented with the original helmet Senna used 30 years ago”. So they gave the original helmet to Nico Rosberg? Why?
iain
11th June 2017, 13:11
The tradition is “once a world champion, always a world champion”; don’t get your panties in a flutter unless they refer to someone other than Nico as “current world champion.” Thank you, kindly. Mav.
EagleMk1
11th June 2017, 15:13
From the dirtiest ever to the daftest ever