Last weekend I had one of those ideas which wouldn't leave my head unless I found an actual physical outlet for it so here we are (guess that's what I got for rereading my favourite Paddy x Eoin fanfics during an F1 weekend).
The fics in question are control and champion (purple sector series) written by the lovely @ecoustsaintmein where Paddy is an F1 driver and Eoin is his race engineer. I've said it before and I will say it again, I simply love these fics (also I'm a long time F1 fan) so naturally I had to design Paddy's helmet.
Stirling F1 Racing Team is kind of based on Mercedes so I used George Russell's 2025 helmet design as an example and also the team's sponsors to make it more realistic. It's quite a simple helmet, nothing too flashy, I think Paddy would say in true Räikkönen style that the helmet is only for protecting his head.
The main theme is the Irish tricolor, one big flag runs from the front to the back and it divides the helmet into 3 big sections. Based on a veeeeery deep and winding Google search rabbit hole I'm almost entirely sure that according to the current FIA regulations, Paddy could choose to race for Ireland. If I'm mistaken, I'm sorry, just go with it please.
I chose 15 as his driver number based on real life Paddy’s year of birth (it could be an old karting number or something similar in a modern AU). I’d say Paddy would keep his own number instead of #1 after winning the championship. Also 15 hasn’t been used by anyone since F1 drivers started using permanent numbers back in 2014 so it’s kind of perfect.
On top I placed a harp, another symbol for Ireland and of course to also symbolize Paddy’s love for poetry.
On the back you can see his name with 7 stars (= championship titles, I designed the helmet for the season when he’s chasing his 8th). They are divided as 2+5 since he won 2 with his former team and 5 so far with Stirling (and with Eoin).
I've cleary thought way too much about this but I had so much fun, it's not impossible that I'll come up with some more stuff later. Thank you all for reading my rambling xx
