New Zealand's latest Formula 1 star Liam Lawson has selected the winning fan-designed helmet he will wear at the Singapore Grand Prix this October, with a Christchurch father-of-three's design being selected out of more than 500 entries.
The nationwide competition invited New Zealanders to submit original designs, offering a rare chance to see their creativity come to life on the Formula 1 grid emblazoned on Lawson's helmet.
Lawson chose the winning design personally, selecting the submission from Christchurch’s Ian Ebbs.
“Massive thanks to everyone who sent in a design for this competition. I went through every single submission. I was blown away with the amount of effort people put into this,” Lawson said.
“There were so many awesome entries and picking one hasn’t been easy but Ian’s stood out straight away. Its bold, full of energy and colour, and encompasses so many things I love about coming home to New Zealand.
"I’m pumped to see it brought to life and even more pumped to wear it on track."
Ebbs, 46, told the New Zealand Herald that a stop at a dairy with his son had sparked the idea to enter the competition.
“My son is super into Formula One and he saw a poster for a Red Bull competition, and was like, ‘How do we enter that?‘” he said. “I just said, ‘we’ll give it a go’.”
Ebbs, who told the Herald he worked as a company director but didn’t have a background in design, said that his design was influenced by Lawson’s personal journey, as well as input from his children.
“It reflects the New Zealand landscape, golf, Kiwiana, and Aotearoa itself, to capture Liam’s pride and personality,” said Ebbs.
“I looked back at Liam’s helmets to understand how he represents himself on track. At first I thought of Lightning McQueen, but I ended up focusing on his new love for golf.
“I settled on pink, blue, and white as the main colours, since Liam often uses them on his helmets. I started picturing a kiwi bird in a pink backwards cap driving a golf cart. I wanted a fun, cartoon-like style, that evolved into something more layered, with elements like ferns, rolling hills, clouds, kiwi fruit, and the shape of New Zealand.”
As part of his prize, Ebbs will be traveling to Singapore with his son Michael to deliver the helmet to Lawson in person ahead of the race weekend in October. A lifelong Formula 1 fan, Ebbs says he has passed his passion on to his family.
‘’This is incredibly exciting for our family. We’ve followed Liam for a long time. We never miss a qualifier or race, and the idea that he’ll be wearing my design is just surreal. Getting to hand it to him ourselves is incredible,” he said.
