Yuki Tsunoda to auction Las Vegas GP helmet for spinal injury charity

Red Bull driver Yuki Tsunoda is to auction off the race helmet he will be wearing for the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend, with all proceeds going to the Wings for Life Spinal Cord Research Foundation.

The helmet is painted in a theme that makes it look at home under the lights of the famous Vegas Strip, but it will eventually make its way to the lucky winner of the F1 Authentics end-of-season auction. The helmet, Lot 502, is expected to sell for a five-figure sum.

According to the listing, the auction house will receive the helmet for sale immediately after the race, with bidding ending in 18 days from the time of writing. The soon-to-be-race-worn piece of equipment was unveiled ahead of the Las Vegas weekend, with the driver thanking artist Kent Yoshimura for its incredible design.

"My friend Kent designed my helmet for Las Vegas 2025," he said in a video posted to his social media.

Yoshimura continued: "Yeah, I'm super stoked. We both have the Japanese connection, and the helmet itself is a representation of Yuki. The challenges, the resilience, and all of that in the theme of Kintsugi, which is - broken things can be mended with gold and turned to something much more beautiful.

"So the fact that Yuki's wearing it for my hometown race in Las Vegas is absolutely an honour, I'm so excited."

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The Red Bull driver added: "For me it's the best helmet, I saw like... the blue and the gold, especially the colour matches, it's among my favourites. So can't wait to get on the track with that helmet."

Wings for Life has long supported Red Bull Racing as the organisation aims to fund research aimed at finding cures and treatments for injuries to the spinal cord.

The Las Vegas race is the first of the final three races and marks the beginning of the end of Tsunoda's first season with the Milton Keynes squad, following a promotion from Racing Bulls much earlier in the season. It's been a challenging campaign for him, with his team-mate Max Verstappen a substantial 313 points ahead of him in the drivers' standings at the time of writing. This has unsurprisingly put his future under the spotlight, with the driver himself admitting worry.

Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

"If I say I'm not nervous, that would be a lie," he said ahead of the Vegas race. "It's just a similar situation as last year. Or even two years ago. So to be honest, I got used to it. That's part of this Formula 1.

"The good thing is I had experience with that situation a lot of times. I know what I have to do for the next few races. In the end, those decisions I can't control, right? So what I can control is to give the performance and give my best. And that's what I enjoy and that's what I'm here for. That's what I'm going to do."

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