FERNANDO ALONSO ME AND MY LID

Two-time champion Fernando Alonso discusses his helmet design, which is part patriotism and partly the legacy of a childhood gift

I’ve kept my helmet design largely the same over the years, ever since I started out racing in karts. The key features that have remained as part of its design are patriotic, with the colour of the Spanish flag represented in red and yellow stripes around the middle. Turquoise is the main colour of the Asturian flag, Asturias being the region of Spain I come from, and I also carry its yellow cross on the back of my helmet.

On top of the helmet are two silver-coloured, thunderbolt-shaped arrows. I took these from a remote-control car, which was a Christmas present from the Three Wise Men when I was a kid. Well, with hindsight I think it must have come from my mum!

I liked those arrows so much that I put them on my helmet when I started racing in karts – and I’ve kept them on there ever since.