The $1.25 million sale of Gilles Villeneuve’s helmet worn at the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix set a world record for a racing helmet at auction, the Hall of Fame Collection said. CEO Darren Jack confirmed the result; the buyer was not disclosed.

The helmet is a 1982 Ferrari GPA model Villeneuve wore at Imola during his final F1 season and had been in a private collection for nearly 30 years. Predominantly red with black side stripes and a stylized red “V” on the back, the piece was authenticated by era-specific features and provenance. The auction house estimated that about five or fewer race-worn Villeneuve helmets survive; drivers’ practice of reusing helmets in that era has increased provenance and collector interest.

The helmet was not the one Villeneuve wore two weeks later when he was killed during qualifying at the Belgian Grand Prix. The $1.25 million price eclipsed the prior record for a Formula 1 helmet — Ayrton Senna’s 1992 Belgian Grand Prix helmet, which sold for £720,000 — and left Lewis Hamilton’s 2023 helmet (about $387,000) ranked third. Dealers and collectors said a combination of rarity, driver provenance and historic significance is driving rising investor appetite for top motorsport memorabilia.

The Hamilton family produced a rare double podium on the same day, pairing Lewis Hamilton’s second place at the Canadian Grand Prix with Nicolas Hamilton’s Jack Sears Trophy victory at Snetterton, a coincidence that organizers and family members framed as a moment for visibility and inclusivity in motorsport. Nicolas, who lives with cerebral palsy and became the first disabled driver to compete in the BTCC when he debuted in 2015, stood on a touring-car podium for the first time in his eighth BTCC season, and commentators described the result as both a personal breakthrough and a symbolic advance for drivers with disabilities. Lewis used his post-race platform to praise his brother and to call out barriers in racing, saying the sport is “not built to be inclusive,” posting an emotional Instagram tribute in which he said, “I could not be more proud of my brother Nicolas Hamilton,” and noting he called Nicolas as soon as his own race ended; Nicolas publicly replied, “Love you bro.”

Lewis finished second at the Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, a Ferrari-best runner-up result and his second podium of the 2026 season for Ferrari after Shanghai in March. He credited his mother Carmen’s presence at the race as a “lucky omen,” saying she would have to come to every race, and praised the SF-26’s balance and driveability, calling the weekend his “best experience” in a race car in some time. Lewis had battled Max Verstappen for second during the race and will move on to the Monaco Grand Prix for round seven of the 2026 season.

Nicolas’s Jack Sears Trophy win was the first silverware of his touring-car career. Reports differ on his entry details, with some accounts saying he drove the #28 Team VERTU Hyundai i30 Fastback N and others saying he raced for EXCELR8 Motorsport. At Snetterton he finished 17th in the opener and recorded back-to-back 16th-place finishes before claiming the Jack Sears Trophy, and he said, “I honestly cannot believe what has happened this weekend.” Nicolas is targeting the next BTCC event at Oulton Park.

Fernando Alonso retired from the Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve because an ongoing seat and cockpit-positioning problem made the car unbearably painful to drive, forcing him to stop on lap 23 (some reports said lap 24). Alonso said he needed to “stop the pain,” and the same issue had already knocked him out of the Saturday sprint. Aston Martin’s overnight attempts to fix the seat failed and, with points effectively out of reach and no rain forecast, the team chose to park the car.

Alonso had made an aggressive start on soft tyres and briefly rose into the top 10 on lap three, marking his first appearance in the points this season before his pace faded, and he was reported as running 12th when he retired. The exit was Alonso’s third retirement of the year. He described the teams package as “sub-par machinery,” said he had “more hope” for Monaco because the street circuit relies less on raw engine power, and acknowledged gearbox improvements since Miami. Alonso estimated Aston Martin still faced roughly a three-second deficit that will need engine and aerodynamic upgrades expected in the second half of the year.

Aston Martin trackside chief Mike Krack said both drivers had made ground early in the race but the squad lacked overall pace. Krack described the seat problem as a worsening pressure point and suggested the team may have pushed drivers’ cockpit positioning “a step too far” as they sit increasingly low in the chassis. The team said it will revisit cockpit set-up and attempt to build a new seat ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix. The weekend underlined broader setup and performance deficits for the team, with teammate Lance Stroll struggling for tyre temperature, grip and straight-line pace and finishing 15th after starting from the pit lane, leaving Aston Martin with limited points at their home race.