GALLERY: Check out the one-off helmet designs from Verstappen, Raikkonen and more for the Abu Dhabi GP

It's the final race of the 2021 season and the end of an era as we move on to a new breed of Formula 1 cars too. The drivers have celebrated with one-off helmet designs for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

"All you need is love", is probably what Charles Leclerc told his helmet designer before the Abu Dhabi GP, as his helmet is positively peppered in one of the world's favourite four-letter words. Ferrari's prancing horse badge takes up its fair share of real estate while the driver's name is stamped on the dome and the words "punk paradise" appear too...

McLaren's Lando Norris will be easy to find in the dark at Yas Marina Circuit – not just because he drives an orange car with a special multicoloured livery for this race – but because his helmet glows in the dark.

As Valtteri Bottas readies for his final race with Mercedes, he turns back the clock with some of his favourite memories after five years with the Silver Arrows including his friendship with the late Niki Lauda, Team Principal Toto Wolff's leadership, his 10 Grand Prix wins, and a photograph of himself drinking an espresso, captioned: "Traditions".

Max Verstappen says arigato to Honda, who bow out of F1 at the end of the season, with a simple but beautiful "thank you" written in Japanese on the back of his helmet.

Yuki Tsunoda has his own special tribute to the Japanese engine suppliers this weekend, as his helmet has the history of Honda in Formula 1, including the years in which they competed and a message of thanks from the Honda-backed rookie.

Veteran Kimi Raikkonen says goodbye at the end of this season as well, and the Alfa Romeo driver this weekend throws back to his first F1 helmet design that was used in his debut season with Sauber two decades ago, back in 2001.

The Finn's team mate Antonio Giovinazzi, who leaves for Formula E at the end of this season, has also said goodbye – to Raikkonen – with a helmet that says "Thanks Kimi".

Alfa Romeo themselves have put messages on their two cars as they ready for a new era with Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou in 2022. Raikkonen gets a lovely reference to his most famous of radio messages while Giovinazzi gets a simple but heartfelt Italian goodbye.

Sebastian Vettel has an absolutely huge, but undeniably noble, to-do list by the looks of this helmet design for the finale. It's going to be a long winter for the four-time world champion.

Lance Stroll brings up a century of races this weekend and the Aston Martin racer's sparkly green helmet tells exactly that story in Abu Dhabi.

Nikita Mazepin has gone for the sparkly approach too, the Haas driver's helmet featuring a striking gold and red design for his final race of the season.

GALLERY: Check out the one-off helmet designs from Verstappen, Raikkonen and more for the Abu Dhabi GP

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

Coming Up