And co-op, if the headgear manufacturing factory is based in Bahrain, the eminence grise of the company is Belgian. Without forgetting the big boss of the group who is Stéphane Cohen. If you pay attention while watching a Grand Prix, you will undoubtedly have seen, in a stand, the dynamic Michael Aumento, Racing Manager of the company and responsible, in other words, for customer service to the competition.
“All F1 driver helmets are assembled and/or painted in Belgium,” specifies this 47-year-old from Louvan, who has been in the company for 30 years and in the Grands Prix for 20 years. “Bell's racing service, as it is called, is based in the Brussels region. We are eight Belgians in this branch with names known in the world of motorsport such as Pascal Mathieu, responsible for painting, but also the experienced Pierre Vangin, Philippe Kinard from Tys Racing, Pitou who takes care of the assembly, Didier, Fabrizio in charge of Formula 3 and, finally, Benoit Visnovsky who assists me on the GPs. There is a good atmosphere between us, we are all friends and everyone is self-sufficient. Nobody likes to play boss.”
The one we nickname Mika and his team are not idle when they are at a Grand Prix. Their job is to ensure that all the pilots who are customers of theirs are in the best condition as soon as they put on their helmet. Feeling good in your head is crucial to performing, after all.
“We leave on Tuesday to arrive on the circuit on Wednesday,” continues Michael Augmento. “Once there, I check my equipment which arrived by freight. We store and prepare the helmets for the weekend. Each driver has between four and five helmets per Grand Prix weekend. They must be conditioned according to the weather. If it's rainy, I'll pack three helmets for the rain and one for the dry. And vice versa if we know that the weather will remain dry for the rest of the weekend. After each test session, we rebuild the helmet and put back enough tear-offs, these protective screens that we remove as soon as the visor is too dirty.
An army of pilots to pamper
Today, Bell can boast of equipping the overwhelming majority of the paddock with helmets. “When I started racing service in the 2000s, only four F1 drivers were using our products. Today, we have fourteen and it is not excluded that we will increase to fifteen in 2025. You should know that we are still trying to sign supply contracts directly with the pilots. Lewis Hamilton's move to Bell in 2015 was a trigger. Lewis is a big head and many followed. Others have trusted us since the days of karting and single-seaters like Lando Norris, with us since he was 6 years old, but also Charles Leclerc, Alex Albon, Oscar Piastri and George Russell. Fernando Alonso also uses Bell. When all the championships run together on the same weekend, we sometimes have up to 60 drivers to manage! And each season, an F1 driver uses on average between 10 and 20 helmets. But we ask them to leave one of them for us each time. Every year, we end up with 14 helmets from the past season. We are also partners of Scuderia Ferrari and technically linked to McLaren and Williams.
F1 is a real rolling laboratory and this is also true for F1 driver helmets with ever more rigorous safety standards that are essential to obtain FIA approval. However, without this famous key, a helmet cannot be used in racing.
“Since 2009 and the accident of Felipe Massa who took a spring in the face in Budapest, safety standards have increased drastically. First there was a reduced visor equipped with Zylon carbon protection. But This process was complicated and expensive. Today, this plate is integrated into the helmet. The field of vision has decreased from 18 to 11 centimeters. small visor is sufficient, especially as it protects from the sun The latest FIA standard, 8860-2018, allows us to have lighter helmets A carbon helmet today weighs 1,400 grams which we can possibly. add 75 grams of paint. We try to save weight wherever possible. A helmet that is as light as possible means more comfort for the pilot. Furthermore, a helmet must be able to withstand a force. 112G, which is much more than the human body can withstand. Its joints and interior must also resist fire for 28 seconds before it begins to burn.
An art that has a price
Pilots' helmets have always fascinated people. Their paintings are their identity. Who hasn't forgotten Ayrton Senna's famous yellow helmet? Here too, coloring a helmet is an art, where every gram is hunted.
“There is traditional painting but also water-based decals. The latter has many advantages. It allows you to bring complex decorations to life like the one that Franco Colapinto used in Qatar, in addition to being faster and more light. A decal weighs 10 grams and the helmet is ready in one day, when it takes three to five days to create a painting that weighs 70 grams, in addition to the varnish.
gullOur helmet played a key role in Nico Rosberg's title in 2016.
As for the price, it can be steep but it is understandable given the quality of the product. “Everyman can buy the same model of helmet as an F1 driver for €5,800 from us. It is a price but it is justified for the numerous research and developments that we do for approval. To have a new helmet approved, between 30 and 40 copies must be destroyed. In addition, as drivers experience our improvements in racing, everyone is certain of having an impeccable product. Today, a helmet is twenty times safer than in the past.”
With two decades of Formula 1 under his belt, Michael has inevitably had some great moments. The two biggest ones have a common denominator: they all took place at Mercedes.
“I approached Lewis Hamilton in Bahrain in 2015. I offered him a new helmet. To make it perfect, I worked until 1 a.m. the day before the race. He tried it for the tour installation… and kept it for the race It was 57 super stressful laps but he liked the helmet At the finish, I cried with satisfaction. A year later, Nico Rosberg had a problem. with his helmet usual and wanted to switch to the Bell… after asking Lewis for approval. He rode with us from Canada and Brazil, where it was raining heavily, he told us that for the first time, he didn't have it! had to worry about fogging on his visor and he was champion at the end of the year, recognizing the anti-fog qualities of our helmet at Interlagos had played a key role in his title..
