Reading time: 12 minutes

When drivers saw the bright yellow hue of Ayrton Senna’s helmet emerge in their wing mirrors, most knew their fate was sealed.

Unless your name was Alain Prost, an overtake was inevitable, just like pit stops and podium ceremonies, F1’s other great certainties. His helmet warned of what was to come, foreshadowing the inescapable outcome. Inspired by the Brazilian's homeland, the yellow, green, and blue design was indistinguishable. You couldn’t miss it.

It’s our sport’s most recognisable design, bar none, and this weekend, it will feature on the MCL38 for the Monaco Grand Prix as we celebrate Ayrton, 30 years on from his tragic passing in the San Marino Grand Prix in Imola.

This is the origin story of Ayrton’s iconic helmet design and how it’s inspired our boldest livery takeover to date.

“Ayrton appeared in our studio and asked to speak with Sid”

Created and painted by Cloacyr Sidney Fly, better known as Sid Mosca, Ayrton’s famous yellow, green, and blue design debuted during his karting days in the late ‘70s.

Sid - who sadly passed away in 2011 at the age of 74 - founded Brazilian paint shop Sid Special Paint, which he ran with his son, Alan Mosca. Between them, the pair can name several F1 greats among their clientele, including Ayrton’s former mentor, Emerson Fittipaldi.

Speaking from the São Paulo-based paint shop that he now runs, Alan Mosca sits in front of a beautiful, brightly coloured backdrop, the colours of Senna’s helmet popping out from behind him, the wall adorned by multiple versions of the design.

“Everyone knows it's Ayrton Senna’s helmet,” Alan Mosca says. “He doesn’t even need to be wearing it, they will know it’s Ayrton Senna’s. It’s a strong symbol of him, and it means a lot to the Brazilian people and the folks of Japan. All around the world, Italy, England, everywhere, he’s a global idol. I am very proud to have been a part of this work and this creation. In a small way, I feel part of this legacy.”

A teenage Ayrton Senna first walked through the door of Sid’s paint shop as a promising younger karter, aged 15. Even at that stage, Sid and Alan were already aware of Ayrton. There was already an aura around him, and like most motor racing fans in Brazil, they’d been following his burgeoning career and believed he was destined for great things. A bright young talent who needed a helmet to match his star.

The trio got on well, striking up a positive working relationship that developed into a close friendship as he rose through the ranks into Formula 1, becoming one of the world’s greatest talents.

Designed and painted in just five days

Sid Mosca’s initial design for Senna wasn’t actually yellow, it was white, with a serrated blue stripe on the top. The yellow, blue, and green design that became synonymous with Senna only came about after Ayrton was called up to represent Brazil at the World Go-Kart Championship in Estoril, Portugal, nearly four years later in 1979.

Senna joined three other drivers on the team and rules stipulated that all three needed to wear matching helmets with the same base colour scheme. As Brazil’s most renowned designer, Sid was enlisted to paint them but was given just one week to do so.

“When they asked us to paint these helmets in five days, it was a challenging mission,” Alan recalls. “We must consider that this happened in 1979, many years ago, and the materials were different. The timeframe was too short for so much painting, the challenge was enormous.

“We accomplished it because we had a competent team led by Sid. I also had my own experience at that time, and we were able to expedite them. Thanks to everyone's dedication, it was ready just in time.”

It’s the most iconic and recognisable helmet in Formula 1 history, yet it was designed and painted in just five days.

“We needed to do it very quickly. My father and I got together and decided to make the entire helmet yellow. Yellow represents Brazilian sports and has always been present in football, basketball, and handball.

“It’s a warm colour that stands out from a distance. I agreed with my father to add two stripes, starting from the pilot's eyes. The stripe that comes out of the driver's gaze symbolises concentration and focus - one green on top, one blue below. Then, we enhanced it with details of thin white stripes.”

When Ayrton returned to Brazil having narrowly – and controversially - missed out on the title to Dutchman Peter Koene, he rang Alan and said: "I want the paint design for myself. Tell the other drivers that I am keeping it. Please don't repeat this paint design."

As so often proved to be the case during his illustrious career, Ayrton got his own way.

“I still remember his words: ‘I will keep this paint design for the rest of my career.’ And that's what happened.”

A fitting tribute to F1’s ultimate icon

If the sight of Senna’s helmet appearing in the wing mirror was enough to strike fear into his competitors, imagine what an entire car could do.

In honour of the legendary Brazilian, this weekend in Monaco, we’ll be running Senna’s iconic helmet design as a limited-edition livery on the MCL38.

“This campaign is all about celebrating Senna's legacy,” explains McLaren Senior Specialist, Design, Simon Dibley, who played a key role in the creation of our Senna-inspired livery. “To do that properly, we wanted to go all out and do a full takeover. As you can see, this has taken over almost every touch point possible.”

Everything that could be changed has been changed, from the livery itself to the driver’s overalls, their seats, helmets, the garage, and even our hospitality. A fitting tribute to F1’s ultimate icon at F1’s most prestigious Grand Prix.

“The colours have been taken straight from Senna’s lid,” explains Simon. “That’s the yellow base, the blue and green stripes, and the white stripe in the middle. Senna’s helmet does actually have another separate stripe in the middle of those white lines, but that was too intricate to work on a race car.

“We’ve then switched to using a heritage font for the driver numbers and added the Senna logo to the front and rear wing. Inside the cockpit, we’ve got the Senna Foundation logo and one of Senna’s most famous quotes: ‘I have no idols. I admire work, dedication and competence.”

This process started in August 2023, with the team working through more than 20 iterations with the race team before settling on the version that will hit the streets of Monte Carlo this Friday.

“We chose to go with his helmet colour scheme as it’s so iconically him. We could have gone with the red and white livery we used at the time, but other drivers raced in those cars, that’s a McLaren colour scheme. We wanted to celebrate him as a person, not just as a McLaren driver, and by using his colours as opposed to McLaren’s, which can be associated to a few different drivers, I think we achieved that.”

The Master of Monaco

Senna was born in Brazil and built a lasting legacy in Japan, but the Monaco Grand Prix was where his star shone the brightest. Winning six times in total, including five in a row, Senna remains the event's most successful driver, even 30 years on from his passing.

It wasn’t his victories alone that earned Senna the Master of Monaco moniker, his performances in Qualifying around the principality are the stuff of legend. In 1988, he pulled off what is widely regarded as the greatest Qualifying lap in history and famously referred to the experience as supernatural, saying: “Suddenly I realised that I was no longer driving the car consciously. I was driving it by a kind of instinct, only I was in a different dimension.”

Senna’s legend is built upon many pillars, from his ability on track to his way with words off it, and his helmet is a key part of that.

“You immediately recognise it,” says Alan Mosca. “This paint design is very simple, it only achieved fame and became iconic worldwide because Ayrton wore it, with his combativeness, determination, focus, and drive to win. It was his performances that made this paint design famous worldwide.”

No design has been imitated as often as Ayrton’s has, with the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, and Rubens Barrichello all running a variation at one point or another. This weekend, Lando and Oscar will join the list of drivers who have worn a Senna-inspired helmet.

All of these designs can be traced back to the helmet that Alan Mosca and his father created in just five days more than 44 years ago.

“Ayrton Senna, besides being a great driver, was a great man and an exceptional person,” says Alan. “If we want to watch a video of Ayrton on the track, we can search and watch, easing the longing for the driver.

“But for Ayrton Senna, the man, there is no way to ease that longing. We only have the memories of him. He’s missed as a beloved person, for me, my team, and my family. My father adored him, and that is what we miss the most."