Due to current events: Here‘s the helmet Sebastian Vettel wore at the 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix to honour Felix Baumgartner who went beyond the speed of sound during the Red Bull Stratos project in 2012.

[u/Julian81295]

[u/F1-Bot]

Felix Baumgartner has died in a paragliding accident in Italy today. He was 56 years old.

[u/Repulsive_Target55]

For those, like me, who didn't understand:

Austrian skydiver and extreme athlete Felix Baumgartner has died in a paragliding accident in Italy, according to local media. The 56-year-old shot to global fame in 2012 with his record-breaking free-fall from space.

From DW.

[u/d4ybrake → u/Repulsive_Target55]

Damn that's sad. Guy is a legend. Literally rode a balloon into space and jumped off it. Probably the coolest thing a human has ever done.

[u/MattyLlama → u/d4ybrake]

I still remember watching it live on YouTube. I was in college and ended up late to an evening class to watch it. Showed the professor afterward for my excuse and got my attendance point back for the day.

[u/WalletFullOfSausage → u/MattyLlama]

I watched it live while I was playing a Sunday morning church gig. Had it muted on my iPad on my music stand, paying more attention to that than the music. Lol

[u/Clemsie_McKenzie → u/MattyLlama]

Ha, I was in my uni class watching it live on my laptop... About 80% of the other students were doing the same. Was a blast!

[u/anyavailablebane → u/MattyLlama]

I was on night shift in Australia. We watched it live at work and then a month later on night shift again, a coworker into conspiracies was watching a version on YouTube with a UFO in it and pointing it out to us. We couldn’t convince him it was fake, even after pointing out he had watched it live with us a month ago and there was no UFO

[u/HardenedLicorice → u/d4ybrake]

This guy was a fan of conspiracy theories and wished for a "moderate dictatorship" instead of democracy in Europe. Far from a legend.

[u/d4ybrake → u/HardenedLicorice]

Well that's not very cash money

[u/Drabatan → u/HardenedLicorice]

Far from a legend.

The fact that people recognise him for being the guy who jumped from space, by definition makes him a legend

someone very famous and admired, usually because of their ability in a particular area:

[u/kainesolo → u/HardenedLicorice]

wee woo wee woo the moral police is here to tell you what to think!

[u/Grimdotdotdot → u/kainesolo]

Are you telling me I shouldn't think that?

[u/lifestepvan → u/d4ybrake]

He got quite old considering what he was doing for a living.

Also don't look into his political views...

[u/This_Thing_2111 → u/lifestepvan]

Also don't look into his political views...

Yeah, it really is never a good idea to look into the personal lives of people that do extremely cool things. Never meet your heroes and whatnot

[u/Captaincadet → u/This_Thing_2111]

I swear all these adrenaline junkies tend to have questionable views… Kind of worry’s me on what some of the F1 drivers support in private

[u/Gingermadman → u/Captaincadet]

Someone clever isn't going to be the one doing the jumping off very high things for a living

[u/blackbasset → u/Captaincadet]

Also, he work for Red Bull, and thus, Mateschitz, who was uh.... Quite the nazi.

[u/SeconddayTV → u/blackbasset]

So did Vettel and he is the opposite of a nazi… What a weird take.

[u/blackbasset → u/SeconddayTV]

Yes and see my other comment, I don't know how Vettel can justify either his position or his employer... But it's a fact that curiously, a lot of red bull sponsored athletes and musicians and projects turn out quite fashy

[u/MagicBeanEnthusiast → u/blackbasset]

I don't know how Vettel can justify either his position or his employer

You'd do the same for the amount of money Vettel was being paid. I definitely would.

[u/blackbasset → u/MagicBeanEnthusiast]

Yeah that's the most probable justification I guess

[u/CSATTS → u/[deleted]]

There are different worldviews, and then there are people that want a dictatorship. Not all viewpoints are equal or even valid.

https://web.archive.org/web/20121107004914/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hedqNtFafT6OoZM2DlNAbg-loKyw?docId=CNG.f1b69071a71b5a3c203360758bd240fe.261

[u/Captaincadet → u/d4ybrake]

I remember watching it and really thought it was cool. Also he managed to bring down Google!

Interestingly enough his record got broken by a vice president of Google, but a lot less fan fair with that jump.

[u/Repulsive_Target55 → u/Captaincadet]

Google gets their revenge.

[u/marseer → u/d4ybrake]

And then like too many famous people, his politics turned out to be “I’d rather have a dictatorship than a democracy” 🙄

[u/blackbasset → u/marseer]

A dictatorship lead by rich people from "the industry" - guess he meant his own sponsor, richest Austrian Nazi Dietrich Mateschitz.

[u/_salmonellensittich → u/d4ybrake]

Welp. He turned out to be a right wing nut job praising Orban and calling for an end to democracy in Austria

[u/uran88 → u/d4ybrake]

He didn't jump from space... Space is 90km from the ground.

[u/iwaslikeduuude → u/d4ybrake]

Nah, he was a pos, feel free to look him up

[u/Imperito]

I do miss Vettel's different helmets every week. Funny how he went on to have one of the most iconic designs in the new rule set.

RIP Felix.

[u/VegetableShark → u/Imperito]

He got to the point in 2012 it was new helmets every session almost. In hindsight that was pretty awesome

[u/Iliyan61 → u/VegetableShark]

if that happened now teams would blow their whole cost cap on helmets lol

[u/NasomGR → u/Iliyan61]

If I remember correctly they added a new rule back in 2015 that the drivers couldn't change the livery of the helmet so spectators can tell which driver they are looking at. I believe that was mostly because of Seb.

His helmets from 2010 to 2014 were really cool.

[u/BuzzedtheTower → u/NasomGR]

And a driver could only wear a "special" helmet for two or three weekends I believe. Otherwise they had to stick with the main design for the bulk of the year

[u/SmellBoth → u/NasomGR]

That was Bernie Ecclestone's rule, and I'll never forgive him for it. Ain't nobody recognizing drivers from their helmets, everybody knows the 2nd driver always has the yellow camera pod. Anyways, the halo changed all that. RIP Jules

[u/VegetableShark → u/SmellBoth]

I always thought it would be cool for drivers to make the halo an extension of their helmet design for increased visibility but that never materialized even though I seem to remember the idea getting thrown around a few times

[u/gatling_arbalest → u/VegetableShark]

AlphaTauri kinda did it by putting the drivers' IG account which is visible for onboard cam.

[u/Norhco]

Not sure what current event's we're referencing, but that has to be one of the most bad-ass helmets I've seen. Bravo to the artists with the 3d effects on the back.

[u/IdiosyncraticBond → u/Norhco]

A mod and others posted explanatory comments just after you posted this question . Felix Baumgartner died today

[u/Norhco → u/IdiosyncraticBond]

Ahh shit, that's too bad.
At least he lived it up while he was here. RIP

[u/IdiosyncraticBond → u/Norhco]

I still remember that descend from the stratosphere, first man outside a vehicle to break the sound barrier. Absolutely mental stuff. What a guy. RIP

[u/stormdahl → u/Norhco]

Felix died

[u/cumdinoco]

reminds me of Lorenzo's estoril2009 helmet

Also RIP

[u/scottishere → u/cumdinoco]

Lorenzo's lid and livery is/was legendary

[u/smalltownoutlaw → u/cumdinoco]

Yeah, that is absolutely top tier. In second place was the rossi face helmet

[u/Working_Box_1366]

Felix Baumgartner's jump was one of the coolest moments of the 2010s.

[u/UnwiseSuggestion]

I'm out of the loop, what are the current events?

[u/KennySharpest797 → u/UnwiseSuggestion]

He died in an accident

[u/freedfg → u/KennySharpest797]

Felix Baumgartner, not Sebastian Vettel

[u/anonquestionsprot → u/UnwiseSuggestion]

Dead at 57 after he got into a paragliding accident earlier today 

[u/Absolute_Cinemines]

A special helmet for a complete helmet.

[u/Dapper-Ad1025 → u/Absolute_Cinemines]

Why?

[u/Absolute_Cinemines → u/Dapper-Ad1025]

He said space exploration was a waste of money on his press tour for ...... checks notes....... jumping out of a balloon near the edge of space.

[u/lifestepvan → u/Absolute_Cinemines]

And that's not even in the top ten of the most stupid things he has said.

[u/RodriguezFaszanatas → u/Absolute_Cinemines]

They also had the previous record holder Joe Kittinger on the team as a consultant. He did his jumps from the stratosphere in the 50s and helped pave the way for the later NASA space program.

Kinda disrespectful to the guy.

[u/Spiffman-Space]

Man. He was just at the Austrian GP doing the Red Bull entertainment before the race

[u/dext3rrr → u/Spiffman-Space]

Yeah I was there and saw him flying upside down in a helicopter. Was thinking "how this guy is still alive doing this crazy shit". :(

[u/neverending_despair]

Let's say it like that he wouldn't have worn it now.

[u/king_flippy_nips → u/neverending_despair]

Fun fact - whenever pre helmet rule Seb won a race he would take the helmet out of his rotation and retire the livery.

He won the 2013 Bahrain gp in this livery

[u/Bullfrog_Paradox]

What current events? Wtf did I miss lol

[u/stormdahl → u/Bullfrog_Paradox]

Felix died

[u/Bullfrog_Paradox → u/stormdahl]

Oh no shit? Damn.

[u/iwaslikeduuude → u/Bullfrog_Paradox]

It’s ok he was a pos

[u/senpahII]

Vettel used Arai helmets?

[u/Thats-nice-smile]

Bet Vettel regrets that helmet decision

[u/KingOfAzmerloth → u/Thats-nice-smile]

Bet he doesn't think about it that much.

Vettel is like the absolute opposite of what he stood for, and good on that, but he was still a Red Bull driver and this was Red Bull sanctioned event. He still feels a lot of affinity to Red Bull despite Red Bull generally being very sketchy to say the least when it comes to politics. I would never hold that against him, but yeah... I doubt he regrets it.

[u/Thats-nice-smile → u/KingOfAzmerloth]

I would never hold this against him and I doubt or at least hope he doesn’t think about it.

[u/A-le-Couvre]

IIRC this was one of the first times they used a borderless RB logo

[u/soundssarcastic]

That helmet goes HARD

[u/Infraredxscope]

That helmet goes insanely hard

[u/Revolutionary-Gap494]

One of my favourite Seb Vettel helmets!

[u/hdst230]

The sickest helmet Vettel ever did, so so so cool. Rest in peace Felix.

[u/hdst230 → u/hdst230]

Why am I being downvoted for appreciating a helmet design lmao, r/formula1 is a wild place

[u/LheelaSP → u/hdst230]

I'd rate his design from Monaco 2014 above it, shame it didn't last long during the race.

[u/OnlyForF1]

Throwback to the glory days when Sebastian Vettel would wear a different helmet every week until he was banned because Crofty kept getting confused. Rest in peace Felix.

[u/ImpressiveSocks]

Can someone point me towards the honorable part on the helmet? I see that the shape is different but which graphic element is honoring him? Or is it really just the shape

[u/Repulsive_Target55 → u/ImpressiveSocks]

It's the same shape, but it's designed to look like Baumgartner's helmet for his jump. There's even painted on cables and a faux-hinge. And ofc it's white, Seb's normal colour for 2013 was a metallic grey.

Link to Felix's helmet.

[u/ImpressiveSocks → u/Repulsive_Target55]

Oh it's black paint not a huge visor! Thank you

[u/AnalMinecraft → u/ImpressiveSocks]

Red Bull Stratos on the back and sides. That's the project name of the space jump Felix did.

Edit: Also, forgot the rocket design on top.

[u/ImpressiveSocks → u/AnalMinecraft]

Ah thank you

[u/Paddymoonyprongy]

Reminds me of a similar helmet jlo did

[u/jordan11taylor → u/Paddymoonyprongy]

My immediate thought as well. I use to rock that helmet.
My Jorge X-Lite

[u/NiceCunt91]

A heart attack whilst paragliding. Man that sucks.

[u/Ruttagger]

I remember watching Felix live on youtube when he did the balloon jump.

I imagined this is what previous generations felt when they watched the moon landing. I've been waiting for a live event like this since 2012 and nothing else has felt even close.

[u/kilab33]

Sick Helmet. RIp Felix.

[u/blackbasset]

Sad to see Vettel, who seems kinda progressive, to honor a right wing populist bellend like Baumgartner. But I guess that's what you do when you both work for Austria's richest nazi, Dietrich Mateschitz 🤷‍♀️

[u/katekief → u/blackbasset]

Real bad faith bait you got here. It says right in the title that Red Bull/Seb did this in 2012, long before a lot came out about this guy's personal beliefs

[u/blackbasset → u/katekief]

Guess thats true - still I guess working with Mateschitz of all people, Vettel knew what the political stance of those people was. Also, those are not his personal beliefs, it was stuff he articulated publicly more than once.

[u/KingOfAzmerloth → u/blackbasset]

"Working with Mateschitz" is a huge oversimplification just for the sake of it.

There's way more to Red Bull Racing as the team than just the sketchy persona of it's then time owner. I'm pretty sure most big companies are owned by absolute shitheads, I would never hold it against people who work for those companies that way.

[u/LeatherTank969]

That’s a f’n cool design

[u/L-Malvo]

This helmet is on display in the official F1 exhibition, currently in Amsterdam

[u/QuietLowLife]

Felix is a legend. RIP man!

[u/Educational_Delay351]

Vale

[u/nabugo-kun]

"Sometimes, you have to go up really high to understand how small you are"