The day a McLaren driver raced in a Ferrari helmet

Those were other times in Formula 1. Safety and technology were not the order of the day as they are today, and the Grand Circus landed in the Principality of Monaco to celebrate the sixth round of the 1996 season.

That weekend in May, the rain threatened the drivers and teams that were going to risk their lives to achieve one of the greatest feats in motorsport, winning the Grand Prix of the small country on the Côte d’Azur.

The weather is a key factor in a sport as perfectionist as Formula 1, so every slight mismatch will cause a gigantic disaster. This is what happened to David Coulthard during this event in Monaco.

The Scot, ready to move up from ninth position in the standings after the San Marino race, took to the legendary street track. However, due to the atmospheric conditions the McLaren suffered many problems with his helmet and the visibility he had.

The fans who were there to enjoy an exciting race watched in amazement as a single-seater from Woking rolled through the streets of the Principality with Michael Schumacher at the controls. That’s what they thought, but the reality is that the German never took one of the British team’s cars on board officially during a grand prix.

The white and red #8 that circulated on the track belonged to David Coulthard who, given the difficulties that arose, asked the Kaiser to borrow his helmet in order to compete.

The main setback that the Scot encountered was that his visor fogged up as the laps passed, making it impossible for him to maintain a clear reference, something vital when driving in Monaco in the wet. Thus, and since the Ferrari team had Malboro as one of its main sponsors, as in McLaren, he asked if he could use his helmet, to which the reigning world champion accepted.

In this way, on May 19, 1996 , Coulthard was the first driver to wear a Ferrari helmet while driving a McLaren on the streets of the legendary track.

“It was impossible to see,” he acknowledged in an interview with Formula 1 years later. “It didn’t have the double visor, which wasn’t available then for the conditions that were present.”

The Scot started from fifth position, but it was Schumacher who defended pole position. This was so for a short time, since the Ferrari driver made a mistake on the first lap of the race and was forced to retire, leaving the rest of the rivals free to go.

At the controls of the MP4-11 , Coulthard handled the situation with nerves of steel, as more and more pilots withdrew from the event due to accidents or mechanical problems. Surprisingly, Olivier Panis took the lead from lap 60, and he held on there until the checkered flag after two hours in the downpour. However, he did not complete all the laps, as he met the FIA limit and covered 75 laps of the 78 scheduled.

That was the Frenchman’s first and only victory in Formula 1, and he got it with the Ligier team, who were celebrating, without even knowing it, their final victory in the category before saying goodbye after 21 seasons that same year.

Returning with David Coulthard and his particular Schumacher helmet, he managed to finish the race in second position, a major merit considering that only four single-seaters finished and that only three did so on the same lap as the leader.

It will be very difficult, almost impossible, to see again this situation in which a driver wears a rival’s helmet in a grand prix, but thanks to the exchange between two Formula 1 legends, we can now remember with nostalgia one of the moments most curious and bizarre in the history of the Great Circus.