Gilles Villeneuve's final race helmet sells for record $1.25 million at auction

The helmet Gilles Villeneuve wore during his final Formula 1 race has sold at auction for $1.25 million (just over €1 million), setting a new world record for a racing helmet. The sale was handled by Canadian firm Hall of Fame Collection, whose CEO Darren Jack confirmed the result.

The previous record had been held by a helmet worn by Ayrton Senna at the 1992 Belgian Grand Prix, which sold last year for £720,000 (approximately €829,000). Villeneuve’s helmet now surpasses that figure by a significant margin.

The helmet in question — a predominantly red GPA model with black stripes on each side and a stylised red “V” on the back — was worn at the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola. In that race, Villeneuve finished second after Ferrari team-mate Didier Pironi overtook him in the closing stages in defiance of team orders to hold position. It had remained in a private collection for nearly 30 years before coming to auction.

Just two weeks after Imola, Villeneuve was killed at the age of 32 in a crash during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix. He was wearing a different helmet at the time of the accident, making the San Marino example one of the last surviving race helmets associated with the Canadian Ferrari driver.

“The GPA helmet itself is an extremely rare model in the collectors’ world,” Jack told CBC from the Gilles Villeneuve F1 circuit. “In addition, this is one of only five — perhaps even fewer — racing helmets worn by Gilles Villeneuve that still exist.”

The sale places Villeneuve’s helmet at the top of the all-time list for racing headwear. Senna’s 1992 Belgian Grand Prix helmet, now valued at approximately $966,000 at current exchange rates, drops to second. A Lewis Hamilton helmet from 2023 holds third place at $387,000, followed by a Steve McQueen helmet from 1970 at $375,000 and a Charles Leclerc 2023 example at $335,000.