Canyon-SRAM’s Tiff Cromwell designs helmet color scheme for F1 driver Valtteri Bottas
Pro cyclist racing at Amstel Gold adds a touch of home to the helmet worn by boyfriend at Australian GP.
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Canyon-SRAM’s Tiffany Cromwell, an Australian, came up with the design for her Formula 1 racing boyfriend Valtteri Bottas, who will be taking to the start in the “Land Down Under” for the second round of racing in the 2022 season at the Australian Grand Prix.
Cromwell will be in The Netherlands for Amstel Gold Race with teammates Katarzyna Niewiadoma, Elise Chabbey, Mikayla Harvey, Pauliena Rooijakkers, and Soraya Paladin. But her significant other will be in the Aussie’s home country racing for the pole position on Saturday and then squaring off from the start grid on Sunday for 58 laps on the 5.28km circuit.
Also read: How to watch Amstel Gold Race: streaming, online, and on TV
Bottas will be in Alfa Romeo’s team livery — except for his helmet, which was designed by Cromwell.
The Australian Olympian came up with the design: “a beach-themed special edition,” which was then executed by DanielDesign.
Emblazoned on Bottas’s helmet are the colors of sand, surf, changing houses, a shark with a wide-open and toothy mouth, and his team’s sponsors and partners, and a few kangaroos, of course.
Atop the helmet is Bottas’ number, 77, an Australian flag, and the phrase “Fair Dinkum,” which very loosely translates to “unquestionably good, or honest.”
While Bottas usually pilots vehicles traveling closer to 400kph (he holds the track record of 372.5kph at the Mexican Grand Prix), he’s no stranger to cycling, at one-tenth that speed.
In 2021, he competed in the SBT GRVL. And while he was short a water bottle, and suffered a flat, he still rolled across the line in fifth place, in the 100km event.
Cromwell has designed other helmets for Bottas, including one with a Christmas theme, and takes an active interest in his racing, displaying some of his helmets on the walls at her home.
You can follow Bottas’ progression in the Saturday qualifying laps (ESPN2, 1:55 a.m. EST), and on Sunday’s Grand Prix (ESPN, 1:00 a.m. EST) online and on TV before Amstel Gold Race broadcast begins.