Men in Italian Loafers

📍 ‘One can sip Cristal on the harbour or put a unicorn on a helmet — both guarantee you’ll be talked about.’

Carlos Sainz, Williams, and a unicorn.

Not a slick sponsor’s logo, but a child’s sketch, plastered onto a racing helmet in Baku.

Hours later, champagne flowed and Williams had its first podium in eight years.

Coincidence? Magic? Or a lesson on how charm trumps commerce?

This is the story behind Sainz’s unicorn — and the gilded precedents that make it unforgettable.

The spark

It began not in a boardroom but with a little girl named Thea, who suggested her unicorn — Sparkles or perhaps Sprinkles — might adorn Sainz’s helmet.

He agreed.

And so, amidst Baku’s Caspian opulence, a Williams driver carried the most unlikely talisman: a child’s fantasy beast, glittering in a world of carbon fibre and oligarch superyachts.

The moment

Then came Sunday: Sainz, silk-smooth under pressure, steered Williams to third place—their first proper podium since 2017.

Champagne corks arced over the paddock. The unicorn, no longer whimsical, became legendary.

Precedents in high-octane couture

Daniil Kvyat’s fan-designed home-race helmet — patriotism by paintbrush.

Red Bull’s fan-created Silverstone livery — rebellion packaged in scarlet and chrome.

Charles Leclerc’s bespoke helmets, drawn by friends, are as personal as a handwritten love note.

The significance

In a sport where sponsors elbow for millimetres, a unicorn did the unthinkable: it stole the spotlight.

Authentic, charming, and forever tied to a champagne-soaked podium — the kind of story Monaco terraces and Mayfair clubs will still tell when the decals have long since faded.

📍 ‘In a paddock where liveries are argued over by men in Italian loafers, a child’s sketch just stole the show.’