São Paulo Grand Prix 2026 helmets: Antonelli's Senna tribute, Verstappen's samba and a Diwali design

Round 20 of the 2026 season runs at Interlagos from 6 to 8 November, and three special helmets are confirmed for it as of 4 November; all of them are on the São Paulo Grand Prix 2026 page, which is updated as more appear.

Revealed so far

Kimi Antonelli arrives as world champion. Speaking after he clinched the title in Mexico City on 1 November, he said: “I will have a special helmet for Brazil, for Ayrton.” It marks 35 years since Senna’s 1991 home win, the one he finished with his gearbox stuck in sixth gear, and Antonelli called it one of the best helmets he has made. The design itself had not been shown by 4 November.

Max Verstappen revealed his on Instagram on 3 November with the caption “Bringing some samba to São Paulo”, swapping his season design for the green, yellow and blue of the Brazilian flag. It is the second year running he has changed colours for this race: his 2025 helmet did the same.

Arvid Lindblad’s helmet has nothing to do with Brazil. Diwali falls on race day, and the Racing Bulls rookie marks it with a rangoli pattern across the top and down the sides, based on rangoli he has made at home, with a diya, a lotus flower and fireworks, over a Phulkari-inspired base for his grandmother’s Punjabi heritage. His grandparents are at the race, their first Grand Prix.

The other news for the weekend is a driver, not a design: Rafael Câmara makes his F1 debut for Haas in place of Esteban Ocon. His usual helmet carries the Senna logo on the back; his profile is here. Nothing has been confirmed yet for Lewis Hamilton or for Gabriel Bortoleto at his second home race.

What Interlagos usually brings

Senna tributes are the habit of this race. Lewis Hamilton’s first came in 2011, his own design at the front and Senna’s at the rear, used with Viviane Senna’s permission. He returned to the idea in 2015, 2016, 2019 (a Brazilian flag on top, Christ the Redeemer on the side and six stars for his titles), 2021 and 2023, and in 2025 he brought the Brazilian flag through São Paulo on a Ferrari helmet, which he said was a first. Ocon’s fan-designed 2025 helmet carried a “Senna Forever” line, and Bortoleto’s first home race helmet last year was Brazil’s green and gold.

Interlagos has also been a place for farewells. Michael Schumacher wore an all-red helmet listing all 91 of his wins at what was then his final Grand Prix in 2006. Rubens Barrichello mixed his design with Senna’s in 2011, in what proved to be his last race, and Mark Webber signed off in 2013 with “Made my Mark” on his. Every helmet the archive has from this race, back to Barrichello’s 1995 tribute, is on the all-years page and the Brazilian Grand Prix page for the years before the race was renamed in 2021.

This preview was drafted from the archive’s own sourced entries with AI assistance. Spotted a mistake? Use the Report a mistake link on the helmet page.