EXCLUSIVE: Pierre Gasly Talks F1 Future And Abu Dhabi GP Helmet Competition With Binance

Pierre Gasly discusses the fan competition for his helmet design, personal race tributes, and the transformative impact of Netflix on F1.

Alpine F1 driver Pierre Gasly is running a competition for a fan to design his helmet for the 2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix so I sat down with him to talk about the competition and the current Formula One season.

The competition, which is being run in partnership with Binance, not only gives fans the opportunity to design the helmet that the French driver will wear for the last race of the 2023 season but he will also share the winning design to social media AND send the winner a signed replica.

Enter the competition here! 

Lydia Mee: Fans have already begun sharing their designs on social media for the helmet competition. A lot of them seem to be running with the theme that the Abu Dhabi GP is a night race, is there anything in particular you would like to see incorporated into the winning design?

Pierre Gasly: "Yeah, I must admit, so far I’m pretty impressed. I’ve had a lot of feedback from fans reaching out to me, telling me ‘please choose my design, please choose my design!’. The whole point of the competition is to have a nice surprise but I think the fact that the last race in Abu Dhabi is by night, you can be a bit more creative and I quite like the idea of having something which maybe reflects the lights, something a bit sparkly.

"Obviously, keeping the tributes which I have on my current helmet, which I am very emotionally connected to.

"But I am happy to explore something really different which doesn’t come from my own mind and maybe that takes me a bit out of my comfort zone and something which I wouldn’t do in the first place. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing all of the designs."

LM: You often carry tributes to Anthoine Hubert on your helmet and you had the Senna-inspired helmet for the 2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, if you were to run another design inspired by a driver, is there anyone you would have in mind?

PG: "I can’t spoil too much because there is something in the pipeline. So, just keep an eye out until the end of the year! 

"But then for the future I think I will see, but Alain Prost as a French driver, he has a special connection to the heritage. A four-time world champion, he is an icon for all of us French drivers and inspired all of us. His battle with Ayrton Senna was also a huge inspiration for me. It was probably some of the most beautiful years of our sport and that’s something I definitely have in mind."

LM: Leading on from that, how significant is the helmet to a driver for personal expression?

PG: "I think you said it, it's real personal expression. We all represent the colour of our team by the livery of our car, by the race suits we are wearing and I feel the helmet is pretty much the only personal touch we can have. 

"I remember in the past as I grew up I was recognising drivers thanks to the helmet and the helmet design they were rocking. So, I feel it is very important and you can bring a bit of your personality into your own design. You can bring something more personal or relay some messages which are important. It’s definitely the best way of expression we’ve got as a driver and I feel sometimes it is undervalued. 

"I like that in the past they had very simplistic designs which were really easy to recognise the driver. At the same time I sometimes feel that the fact that you can change and have a very special helmet design for a specific race is definitely quite useful depending on the country you are going to. It’s also a way of connecting to the country, the places, the track, the fans, the people, your own values, your own taste. So, it’s definitely something which needs to be used, which is why I am really happy to be running the design contest because I feel the fans are really getting on board with it and are really feeling part of the journey. 

"It isn’t my journey, it’s our journey with my community and my fanbase. I’m probably as excited as they are for all the different sorts of designs and I am just waiting to see them all. And to be able to take ideas from the ones that won’t be selected, I will probably pick on some things which might be on my future helmets."

LM: Talk me through the process of designing a helmet and how you choose which races to wear a special edition helmet.

PG: "So, I have a plan at the start of the year where I go ‘okay, these are all of the races of the season’. I will stick with my original helmet which you still want to race with for most of the year but then I usually try to have around five special designs and stick to it. 

"Obviously, as the year goes on, you may have new ideas and there will be some special designs which I had not thought about at the start of the year. Which I had come up this summer with some friends, there are just some unexpected elements which come up along the way.

"It’s not that easy to make and it does require some work."

LM: F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has recently said they are reviewing the need for two Italian races. This could open the door to the renewal of the French GP. Do you think this is likely and what would it mean to you?

PG: "I’m not going to lie, I was sad when I saw the French Grand Prix wasn’t going to be on the calendar. It’s just such a unique experience to be able to race in your home country in front of your home crowd. 

"It is a unique feeling which I was lucky to experience because I know some French F1 drivers didn’t have a home race for most of their career. I will definitely be the happiest if it does come back into the calendar and just being able to get even closer to the French fans that have supported me since I started and even the ones which have joined during the journey.

"I’m definitely pushing Stefano [Domenicali]. Whenever I see him I always try to slide in a sneaky message. Even if it is just a little help to push the French Grand Prix and the interest from all of the French fans because it’s part of our DNA. Motorsport is huge in our country. We have a French manufacturer - a French team, two French drivers, two and a half with Charles [Leclerc] which I still don’t know if he wants to be called French but I still like to call him French.

"It will definitely be nice to see it back."

LM: Speaking of the increasing number of races, it must be difficult to cope with all of the travelling. What are three things you cannot live without to deal with constant travel?

PG: "I will say, Airpods because I spend so much time travelling, I listen to music a lot and and keep in contact with either my family or my friends because we don’t get to spend a lot of time back home. When you are away it is very important to stay in contact with the people closest to me.

"I know I'm starting to get older when I start travelling and I think of having an eye mask. It’s this sort of stuff which I never really cared about but now I am really careful with my sleep and I really try to look after myself in that sense. Sleep is super important when you are changing country all of the time. Jet lag is becoming quite difficult and I’m very sensitive to light so I try to have it [eye mask] and get some good sleep wherever I go.

"I will also say my phone because it's the only thing you have to stay connected."

LM: Following the high of the Dutch GP podium you had the struggles of the Italian GP, how do you mentally handle the natural ups and downs of the sport?

PG: "I have learned through the years that it is part of the journey, part of the sport. Coming from the best moment of the season with the third place in Zandvoort to one of the most tricky and difficult weekends in Monza on a different track, it’s knowing your strengths and weaknesses as a team. We knew it was going to be a tricky weekend for us. It’s a lot about learning and understanding to make sure that in the short and medium term we get stronger and we are able to perform better on this type of track and have a stronger car.

"I’m someone who is very positive and someone who is very objective as well so I know how to identify what needs to be done in a better way, in a more efficient way and always try to be productive in a way that means we become stronger. We have got to look forward and learn from what didn’t go well enough and be better in the future."

LM: Hopefully a high point of the season will be the Las Vegas Grand Prix, what are you most looking forward to about that race weekend?

PG: "Yeah, I think everyone’s so excited about that race. I think there is the factor of the unknown going into a new place, a new track which seems quite special with the long straight and trying to imagine what it’s going to be like driving down the Las Vegas Strip in a Formula One car. I’ve been through there walking but what is it going to feel like going through there at 300 kmh? 

"It’s definitely very exciting and from the hype we can see in the States and around that Grand Prix, everyone wants to attend, there is a lot of expectations.

"It’s a fantastic time for Formula 1 at the moment, all of the fans are really loving it and the sport is definitely booming thanks to Netflix with all of the new exposure we are getting and the new fans coming on board. It’s the best time ever to be in Formula One.

"If someone said to me if you’ve got to have only one more podium this year where would it be? It would have to be Vegas."

LM: F1 has become much more America-conscious. Not including the addition of more American races, have you seen the sport evolve in other ways to cater more to the American market?

PG: "There was definitely an evolution, I wouldn’t say a change, but an evolution because the sport has developed in all ways of communication with all of the platforms that are available nowadays whether it’s streaming platforms or social media platforms. There is just so much more content going out there which brings a lot of light to our sport and also especially to us F1 drivers. 

"The community is growing, the fan base is growing. It’s funny because you always hear ‘I’m a Formula 1 fan either from before Netflix or after Netflix’ and it’s almost like people relate to that as a turning point in our sport. 

"The exposure is huge, there is a lot more people talking about us, about Formula One. Also in terms of exposure from, whether it's fans or whether its brands, a lot more brands want to interact with Formula One and want to be a part of it. It just shows the great success we are having as a sport and I hope it continues."

Thank you to Binance for setting up this interview with Pierre Gasly. 

This is not a sponsored post.