Pierre Gasly donates Imola tribute helmet to Ayrton Senna Foundation

With Formula 1 announcing a return to Imola during the 2020 season, Pierre Gasly took the opportunity to pay tribute to his childhood hero Ayrton Senna – who lost his life at the Italian track in 1994 – with a stunning tribute helmet. And now, Gasly has offered the helmet to the Instituto Ayrton Senna, the Brazilian driver’s charitable foundation, to help raise money for the organisation.

The helmet, which was officially authorised by the Senna family, inspired Gasly to his best qualifying of the 2020 season at Imola, as the AlphaTauri driver took a stunning fourth on the grid for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix – only for a radiator issue to force him into retirement after just eight laps.

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But the Frenchman – who had a number of helmets stolen from his home in France earlier in the 2020 season – has now decided to donate the tribute lid to the Instituto Ayrton Senna, in order to help raise funds for some of Brazil’s most impoverished children.

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“Obviously for me, I did this special helmet for Ayrton because I’ve always been a big, big fan of Senna since I was a kid,” said Gasly during the Imola weekend. “He was one of my idols, and it was important for me to do it here.”

Meanwhile, part of the money raised from sales of miniatures of the helmet – currently available for pre-order on Gasly’s own website – will also be donated to the Instituto Ayrton Senna.