The final race helmet worn by Formula 1 legend, Gilles Villeneuve, has become the first driver helmet ever to sell for over $1million, bringing in $1.25m [£930,000] at auction.
This auction breaks the highest price ever paid for a driver’s helmet by some distance, with the previous highest auction price coming for Ayrton Senna’s 1992 Belgian Grand Prix helmet at £720,000, or $966,000.
Gilles Villeneuve helmet surpasses $1m in auction first
Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trust
Villeneuve’s helmet, worn in the race at the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix, had been largely kept in a private collection before being made available for auction, with news of its sale coming via Darren Jack, CEO of the Hall of Fame Collection in Canada.
Only one of two helmets the Canadian used in the 1982 campaign, this piece was his race helmet throughout 1982 up to that stage, in which he took second place at Imola.
Villeneuve’s driving style and approach to racing saw him became idolised in his time at McLaren and particularly Ferrari, with his race number of 27 still closely associated with him to this day.
His helmet design too became iconic, with a black base complemented with a stylised ‘V’ shape in red – a design which current Ferrari driver, Charles Leclerc, ran in tribute at the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix.
The sale was not just a sign of the helmet’s rarity, but the standing in which Villeneuve was held within Formula 1, despite him not having won a world championship.
“The GPA helmet itself is an extremely rare helmet model in the collecting world,” Jack told CBC.
“Also, this is one of only five, maybe, that exist ever of Gilles Villeneuve race helmets.”
More from the world of Formula 1 memorabilia
Revealed: Top 10 most expensive F1 cars ever to be sold at auction
McLaren F1 2026 car sold for huge $11.4m in world-first auction
Melanie Villeneuve, Gilles’ daughter, added that such a sale was testament to “how well my father’s legend still lives on.”
“It makes you think that maybe his story has something super valuable for our general culture,” she said.
“So where did he come from, why was he able to achieve what he achieved with so little means. It’s such passion, so there’s a human story to it that is very valuable.”
The Ferrari driver died in a high-speed accident during qualifying at the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder, aged 32, with a different helmet having been worn at the time of his crash.
Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.
You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!
Read next: Russell and Antonelli submit joint Mercedes request as Canadian GP meeting uncovered
Originally published by Planet F1 —
Read Original Article