I expected chaos and glamour at the Monaco Grand Prix this year and both appeared on demand. It was my first time back in the principality since I was one of five drivers who could have won the chaotic 1982 grand prix that nobody wanted to win. The podium photos this year of Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri made me think of a lady I met in Texas back in 2013. She was confused then and probably still confused now trying to understand the great sporting platform that is Formula 1.
At the United States Grand Prix in 2013, I was sitting in a hospitality suite overlooking Turn 18 at the Circuit of the Americas, when a new F1 fan asked me how she could tell what car Lewis Hamilton was driving. I told her to look for the silver car with his number 44. I watched with her and looked carefully as the silver Mercedes cars flew around the corner when I realised the number was impossible to see, so I told her to look for his familiar yellow helmet colour. As a Mercedes darted by, one with a yellow helmet in the cockpit flashed past. I then looked at the TV feed showing that Hamilton was not on track but instead in the garage and now I was confused. After a bit of time I realised that Nico Rosberg had a yellow helmet while Hamilton, for that race, had switched to a red design. I tried to explain to my new friend that helmet colour was usually the best way to identify a driver, except for maybe today. She just shook her head and went to the bar.
