Before the first practice session there are already some winners down in Melbourne
The 2024 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix does not begin in earnest until later today, with the first of three practice sessions schedule ahead of qualifying.
But the week already has a winner.
With the grid heading to Melbourne you knew that the folks at Kick Sauber wanted to put in a good show. After all Kick, the streaming service, was founded in Australia making this a home race for one of the team’s main sponsors. (It is worth noting that this is one of the weeks where another named sponsor, Stake, is absent from their branding for legal reasons. Stake, is an online casino, which were banned by Australia in 2001. While Stake operates out of Melbourne, it cannot advertise or offer their services to Australians).
Well before the first lap was even posted, the folks at Kick Sauber can call this week a win.
It starts with Valtteri Bottas. In a sport filled with fascinating personalities the Finnish driver is perhaps lapping the field, thanks to his incredible theme helmets, his passions away from the sport, his willingness to do everything he can for charity, and his fantastic sense of humor.
Many of those traits were on display in this brilliant advertisement for Uber Carshare:
This was so good our resident Australian and fellow F1 expert James Dator had to chime in yesterday.
That was just the start, as the team later released this Baywatch parody again featuring Bottas:
Of course, if the bodysuit is on, you might as well catch some waves:
Then it was time to unveil the theme helmets for the Australian Grand Prix, and expectations were high for Bottas. With the help of his partner, elite cyclist Tiffany Cromwell, Bottas has been dominating the theme-helmet game the past two seasons, with Cromwell often behind the designs.
Their effort for the Australian Grand Prix — Sausage Sizzle — is another masterpiece:
The helmet pays tribute to the sausage sandwich, an Australian staple. The details — down to the sausage link getting roasted — are incredible:
However, as good as this helmet from Cromwell and Bottas is, his teammate might have him beat this week.
Because Zhou Guanyu PUT VALTTERI BOTTAS ON HIS HELMET:
Zhou’s helmet for the Australian Grand Prix has some of the elements you often see at the Australian Grand Prix — namely, kangaroos — but it also features Bottas, and his incredible mullet, on the back:
Bottas himself even loved the design:
Of course, Kick Sauber will be hoping to match their success off-the-track this weekend with some success on it. The team has yet to secure a point through two races, undone in part by some struggles on pit lane. Hopefully for the team, those problems will be sorted out in time for this weekend’s race.
If not, however, they have already put in a great performance Down Under.
