Ayrton Senna's helmet sells for record price  

Ayrton Senna is a legend and, like individuals of his caliber, everything he touched turned to gold. His helmet worn during the 1992 Belgian Grand Prix is ​​proof of this. The now legendary object sold for a record price of 720 pounds sterling (approximately 000 euros) at a sale organized by RM Sotheby's. This model in the Brazilian driver's iconic colors – yellow, green and blue – shatters the previous record, held by the helmet that Charles Leclerc worn at the 2023 Monaco Grand Prix. It was sold for 308 euros.

Belgium 1992 then Imola 1994

The yellow helmet above. © DDPI

In 1992 at Spa-Francorchamps, Senna had not won. The young wolf Michael Schumacher won the first of his 91 Grand Prix victories at the wheel of his Benetton. Nevertheless, the Brazilian driver distinguished himself with a gesture that left its mark. During practice, Frenchman Érik Comas was the victim of an accident. Unconscious in his Ligier following a serious impact, the engine of his car had not cut himself, which exposed him to significant danger. Senna, driving past the wreck at the wheel of his McLaren, quickly understood the problem and took the initiative to get out of his single-seater to intervene.

At the foot of the Ligier before the race stewards, the three-time world champion cut the engine of the single-seater and stayed with the French driver until help arrived. Later, Érik Comas said that Senna had saved his life. Two years later, at Imola, Ayrton Senna lost his life at the wheel of his Williams following an accident on the Tamburello bend. Erik Comas, now a pilot for Larousse, went to the scene of the accident in his single-seater while the helicopter was already on the tarmac.

“When I arrived at the Tamburello bend, I saw the helicopter, the ambulances, and Ayrton’s car. They were all there. I saw that Ayrton was already on a stretcher and I stopped my car. I knew something very serious had happened. I was paralyzed because I was standing next to the man who had saved me from death two years earlier. But I couldn’t do anything and I felt helpless. It was so traumatic that it took me ten years to talk about it. I kept it to myself for a very long time. I was the last driver to see it. For me, the book of the Formula 1 was closed at that time ", we had entrusted the Frenchman for the Collector magazine dedicated to Ayrton Senna.

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