Charles Leclerc CLEARED to use special Villeneuve helmet despite family 'surprise'

Charles Leclerc

Leclerc CLEARED to use special Villeneuve helmet despite family 'surprise'

Charles Leclerc thought about reverting back to older helmet after Villeneuve family complains about sponsors

Shay Rogers

Saturday 17 June 2023 21:42 Updated: 21:48

Charles Leclerc is wearing a custom, special edition helmet for the Canadian Grand Prix weekend, but the Monegasque driver looked as though he may have to switch back to his original design before FP3 for the wet session which saw him finish inside the top three.

Torrential downpours have covered the Montreal circuit all weekend – an occasion which Charles Leclerc decided would be fit to honour the late Ferrari and Canadian legend Gilles Villeneuve with a special helmet.

The design, which is a mix of both Charles’ and Gilles’ helmets, was brought into question by the family when they noticed the placement of the sponsorships.

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However, Gilles' son Jacques told Motorsport.com: "It was just a big surprise to see the helmet yesterday because nobody had called the family. It's mainly my mother and my sister involved in that. So that was just a big shock.

Villeneuve family feel more ‘consultation’ required

“And when Lewis [Hamilton] wore Ayrton Senna's helmet the family was involved, obviously, because it's not just something you do like this.

"But then I chat with Charles and he said, 'Oh, sorry, I didn't think about it.' And then I think he talked with my sister and everything seems to be clean there.

“So it was just the way of doing things, you just check with the people involved first. That's all. So it's not a huge issue. But it was done without any of us knowing, which was a big surprise.”

Sky Sports F1’s Ted Kravitz flagged up the situation before FP3 on Saturday afternoon saying: “We understand that the Villeneuve family and Jacques Villeneuve were unhappy I think with the appearance of the Ferrari logos on there – the sponsor logos and felt that there could’ve been a little bit more consultation.

“Ferrari’s response and Charles Leclerc's response [that] I got at the beginning of the session was ‘Look, this is absolutely meant to be a good faith tribute.

“'We never expected this to [or] the intention was never to be any kind of thing where we are using Gilles Villeneuve’s helmet and the design to advertise our sponsors',” he concluded.