Lando Norris’ crash helmet for this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix is a nod to his trophy-smashing blunder in the same event 12 months ago.
The McLaren driver, who finished second last year, accidentally knocked race winner Max Verstappen’s first-place trophy off the podium while he was celebrating. The trophy, worth around £35,000, broke at its base.
Norris made light of the incident at first but later apologised to Verstappen for his mistake. “I obviously had no intention of ever doing such a thing and I know how much it means to the Hungarians and part of their culture and so forth,” he said. “Of course I want to enjoy the time, but it was never my intention to do such a thing.”
“I obviously made a couple of jokes about it – which maybe I shouldn’t – but I do feel bad. If he did it to my trophy I’d be annoyed! So I do apologise for it and obviously the people who put the time and effort in and everything into making it. I really didn’t mean for it to happen. So I’ll make sure I’m a lot more careful next time when celebrating.”
Herend Porcelain, who created the trophy, supplied Verstappen with a replacement five weeks after the race. For this year’s race, Norris will wear a helmet styled by Herend Porcelain depicting an assortment of wildlife.
At least one other driver will wear a similar look at the Hungaroring. Esteban Ocon, who scored his only Formula 1 victory to date in the Hungarian Grand Prix three years ago, will wear a helmet styled on the trophy he won that day. He recently received the A521 chassis he won the race in from his Alpine team.
Herend have produced the trophies again for this year’s Hungarian Grand Prix. The winning driver’s trophy measures 53cm tall and weighs three kilograms.
Esteban Ocon’s 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix helmet
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