Put Your Visor Down and Close Your Ears........

Truth be told, I am not a fan of the FIA. They seem to be doing a very effective line in acting as a chocolate fireplace over the myriad issues in the sport at present. The distribution of the revenues, the calendar, promoting young drivers.....they often have little to say, or pour petrol on the flames of an inferno! But finally, last week dropped in a collectors item, a sensible decision that will make F1 better for casual and committed fans alike...........a ban on changing helmet designs.

And with that, the F1 twitterati and forumrati and downthepubrati erupted with scorn.....



....And I would have to disagree with them!



A stultifying inability to do the small things should be no reason to do the big things. While there is a mammoth amount still to do (and I have minuscule faith in the their ability to do much) we cannot as fans deride the organisation for never thinking of the fans, and proactively change the sport, and then propel mud and rocks through the doors of the palatial Place de la Concorde offices when they do so!



To me it parallels the driver numbers change which was similarly lampooned last year. While it hasn't single handedly fixed all the problems in F1, it has been something that I have enjoyed greatly. Learning the reasons different drivers used choose their numbers, having them assimilate into memory though the nifty placement of them on the tv graphics, wondering what numbers new drivers will take.....it is all good fun. And I think this new change (or stopchanging change?) will be A Good Thing before the end of the year. Reasons to be cheerful............

A driver's helmet colour is his identity. Now the colours will be on for every race (no more tired Monaco specials, yaaaaawn) we can get used to the colours, and blend them into our mental image of the driver. No bizarre helmet changes like Alonso's (not)famous '1571' (you won't remember!) effort in India 2013. I won't go on about the absurdity of changing a recongnisable, unique helmet design for a random helmet focused on a record number no one would have a clue about, that didn't mean a lot anyway (the points given out for a win had increased markedly from Fangio or even Schumacher's day)  and for something that created zero excitement....apart from for the guy who gets paid to do his helmet designs?! Anyway, I won't go on about it (cont. page 1571)



It might even force the drivers to produce stronger simpler, more recognisable designs, now that they have to think about the downside of plumping for the wrong choice. Some more James Hunt or Ayrton Senna style designs would be nice.....



For new fans, some of them possibly very young ones (the ones who sneak past the opprobrium towards them from the promoter...) it means when they tune in for their second race they might be able to actually recognise drivers they saw in their first race...radical that!

With permanent designs and numbers, maybe we can even have some kick ass driver merchandise! Make it happen!



And it will be such a boon watching classic races now - no more trying desperately to figure out who that guy in the Toro Rosso is, having to Google and find out Vergene had a tribute helmet to Total Oil because it was the fifth anniversary of them changing their logo etc........



So drivers - get those good designs in for Melbourne, and let us all enjoy a change for the better!