Las Vegas Grand Prix theme helmets include playing cards and ‘Deadpool’

The inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix is here.

The event is shaping up to be a true Vegas spectacle both on, and off, the track. With race promoters, drivers, and teams alike promising blazing speed and plenty of overtaking, the battle on the track will be fierce. Then there is everything Sin City has to offer, complete with a first-of-its-kind Opening Ceremony to kick off race week.

As you might expect, we are starting to see a bit of flavor from the drivers themselves. Theme helmets are a growing part of Formula 1, and this season alone has seen some incredible efforts, such as Lando Norris’s beach-ball helmet for the Miami Grand Prix, and everything that Valtteri Bottas has done this year.

So you might not be surprised to see drivers upping the ante for the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix.

The three-time Drivers’ Champion was first out of the gate, unveiling this helmet for the Las Vegas Grand Prix:

Here are a few more images of the design:

Alpine driver Esteban Ocon unveiled his themed helmet for the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Wednesday. However, unlike Verstappen — and probably a lot of what we will see this week — Ocon did not lean into a Las Vegas theme.

Instead he paid tribute to one of the team’s new owners, actor and part owner of Wrexham A.F.C., actor Ryan Reynolds.

With a Deadpool theme:

It is absolutely a change-up, but I think it works.

The McLaren driver is known for some of the better theme helmets, including the “beach ball” design he brought to the Miami Grand Prix earlier this season.

His Las Vegas Grand Prix design?

Snakes.

When I spoke with McLaren rookie driver Oscar Piastri on Tuesday night, he told me a special helmet was coming.

He dropped it on Wednesday, a nod to the team’s relationship with Google Chrome:

This is not the first time this season that McLaren has paid tribute to Google Chrome. Earlier this year they brought back the chrome paint scheme, part of their earlier F1 days, for the MCL60.

The Alfa Romeo driver has, in this writer’s humble opinion, absolutely crushed the theme-helmet game this season.

He promised that something was coming when I spoke with him last week, and he delivered, with this “Planet Las Vegas” design:

As noted, the design comes from his partner Tiffany Cromwell, who has been behind many of the helmets this season. Beyond being one of the world’s best road and gravel cyclists, she is also an elite helmet designer.

Max Verstappen is not the only Red Bull driver to bring a special helmet to the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Sergio Pérez brought a custom helmet of his own, leaning into a “casino” theme: