Formula 1 has always been about speed, precision and spectacle, but increasingly it is also becoming a platform for culture, creativity and storytelling. This season, Qatar’s Years of Culture initiative is bringing art back onto the grid with a new collaboration featuring French Formula 1 driver Pierre Gasly and Qatari artist Ghada Al Suwaidi.
Unveiled ahead of the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, the special edition helmet marks the latest chapter in the ongoing partnership between Years of Culture and the BWT Alpine F1 Team. The concept is simple but powerful. Artists from around the world are invited to transform Gasly’s helmet into a moving canvas, using one of the world’s most watched sporting stages to spotlight contemporary creative voices.
For Al Suwaidi, the project feels both exciting and deeply personal.
Known for her colourful, playful style and work inspired by everyday life in Qatar, the artist has built a reputation for creating pieces that feel instantly recognisable yet emotionally familiar. Her work often explores nostalgia, memory, neighbourhoods and shared cultural moments, blending bold colour with contemporary illustration and design.
Now, that visual language is travelling at more than 300 kilometres per hour.
“I’ve followed this collaboration since the beginning, so being part of it feels a bit surreal,” Al Suwaidi said. “What excites me most is the scale, knowing something so personal will be seen by millions, in a completely unexpected setting.”
“A helmet moves so fast, but I hope it still makes people pause, even for a second, and wonder about the story behind it. That moment of curiosity is where connection starts.”
The collaboration launches as part of the Qatar–Canada–Mexico 2026 Year of Culture, a wider cultural exchange programme focused on strengthening creative dialogue between the three countries. Following the Montreal race, Gasly is expected to wear two more artist-designed helmets later this season during the Grands Prix in Mexico City and Doha, featuring artists from Canada and Mexico respectively.
And for one race weekend in Montreal, Ghada Al Suwaidi’s art will not just be hanging on a wall. It will be racing around the circuit at full speed.
