Jacques Villeneuve reckons Charles Leclerc using his dad’s helmet design as a tribute to Gilles, has been ‘blown out of proportion’.
Ahead of the F1 Canadian GP weekend, Ferrari released images of Leclerc sporting a Villeneuve Sr tribute helmet. The Monegasque did wear it on Friday in FP1, but reverted to his usual helmet design for FP2 before using it again in qualifying.
It only happened after the confusion was clarified when Villeneuve Jr raised the issue with Leclerc. The Canadian had a call with the Monegasque where he explained that he doesn’t have any issue with him using the design, but he should have told Gilles’ family about it.
He doesn’t handle anything related to his father, but his sister Melanie does. And so Villeneuve Jr asked Leclerc to invite his sister and mother to the Ferrari garage to sort the matter, which was duly done by the Monegasque ahead of the qualifying session.
With sponsor logos of Ferrari and Leclerc on the current helmet and Villeneuve Sr’s design being trademarked, it is advised for any tribute helmets to be approved by the respective family and or the person who is looking after the trademarked things.
With everything sorted, Leclerc was able to use the helmet design in qualifying after due permission from Melanie, who stated that the Monegasque felt sorry that he didn’t think about it. Villeneuve Jr, meanwhile, felt unfortunate that this got blown out of proportion.
NEWS: Official statement from Jacques Villeneuve on Charles Leclerc’s Gilles tribute helmet.#CanadaGP #CanadianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/AeC3ANtaAE
— Jacques Villeneuve News (@VilleneuveNews) June 18, 2023
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) June 16, 2023
https://twitter.com/ScuderiaFerrari/status/1670154196161626112?s=20
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