Race and classic pictures

Grosjean letting his home race go to his head!

© Instagram.com / @grosjeanromain

Romain Grosjean is determined to look his very best at his home Grand Prix next week.

The French driver (who was actually born in Geneva, Switzerland and holds dual nationality) will be sporting a brand new helmet to mark the special occasion.

Under FIA rules, drivers have to use the same helmet for the entire season with only minor changes. However a one-off design is allowed for special occasions, such as the driver's home race.

Grosjean revealed his new 'lid' on Instagram. It prominently features the colours of the French flag, as well as a cartoon version of the Haas driver on the back.

It's the first time in ten years that Formula 1 has raced in France. The last time was in 2008 at Magny-Cours when Felipe Mass won for Ferrari.

It means that Grosjean has never raced in F1 before his home crowd. He made his Grand Prix weekend début in 2009 at the European Grand Prix that was held that year in Valencia.

And you have to go back to 1990 for the last time that F1 cars competed at Circuit Paul Ricard at Le Castellet, located near Marseilles in the south of the country.

Appropriately, Grosjean's helmet will include the words 'Castellet 2018' on the back to mark the return of this historic venue - first constructed in 1969 - to the Grand Prix calendar.

© Instagram.com / @grosjeanromain

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

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