Lavish podium celebrations are a mainstay of Formula 1, with the top-three finishers shaking hands with various dignitaries, spraying Champagne and picking up their trophies at the end of every grand prix. But the design and development of the trophies they lift above their heads begins months before lights go out at the start of an F1 race.
Trophies have been a staple of F1 since the very beginning of the series, with the Mervyn O’Gorman trophy being awarded to Giuseppe Farina for winning the 1950 British Grand Prix. Since then, trophies have become more intricate and detailed over the years, with winners picking up everything from replica track maps and sponsor logos to bespoke awards.
But when it comes to creating a new F1 trophy, the first question is who will get to design it. According to a spokesperson for Japan’s race at Suzuka, the design can be decided on by one of three parties, with the title sponsor of the race getting first refusal, then the national sporting authority (the Japan Automobile Federation) is offered the chance to design it, before the circuit itself is asked.
Once it’s been decided which organisation will choose the design of the trophy, there is then a range of specifications set out in F1’s trophy guidelines that the award must conform to.
“There is a range of sizes that they must fall within and there’s also a weight limit so that exhausted drivers can lift them in victory without a struggle,” explained Ken Ozawa, Las Vegas Grand Prix Inc. creative director.
F1 also sets out rules that mandate that the second and third place trophies are smaller than the winner’s prize, and there are regulations around certain logos and designations that must be featured.
Outside of these parameters, Ozawa says the “possibilities for design are nearly endless”.
Dutch GP trophy
For circuits like Zandvoort, this meant leaning on the history of the event with its trophies based on a design that was created in 1939. Tracks like Albert Park also have historic trophies that they dish out year after year, like the Sir Jack Brabham Trophy, and Silverstone’s Royal Automobile Club (RAC) Gold Cup is a perpetual trophy that is passed on to every winner of the British Grand Prix.
For Las Vegas, the organisers designed an all-new trophy to hand out to its winners.
“Formula 1 encourages designers to create trophies that reflect the unique culture and spirit of the host city,” Ozawa explains. “Since I grew up in Las Vegas, I was thrilled to draw from my own experiences as a local to shape the trophy’s look and feel.”
Since the 2023 Las Vegas race, the trophy has incorporated elements inspired by the geology around the city, as well as the vibrancy of Las Vegas itself – with the top portion of the trophy featuring illumination to match the neon lights of Sin City.
“The lighting added complexity and cost to the design and build, but it felt essential for capturing the energy of our city at night,” explained Ozawa. “The linear chrome shapes and lights on the top of the trophy are meant to convey what I imagine an F1 driver might see as they fly past the second longest straight on the calendar at 220mph.”
Once the design for the trophy was settled, it was signed off by Las Vegas Grand Prix CEO Emily Prazer, and it was double checked against F1’s guidelines, before entering production.
The assembly of the trophies kicks off around three months before lights go out, explains Ozawa. The first step is to fabricate a cast for the base, which starts with a 3D print before being manufactured from bronze and treated with a ferric nitrate solution to give it a sandstone effect.
George Russell, Mercedes-AMG F1 Team, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG F1 Team
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / LAT Images via Getty Images
To create the main body of the trophy, 3D-printed resin tops are chrome-plated and an array of bright white LEDs is housed inside to illuminate openings through neon-coloured lenses. Rechargeable battery packs are then installed into the base to power the lights.
Once the trophy is finished, it’s housed in a custom case made from aircraft aluminium that protects it until it’s needed on the F1 podium.
The Vegas race has used the same design for its first three editions, and Ozawa isn’t quite ready to cook up a new iteration of the trophy just yet.
“In my opinion, a successful design should stay in place for at least a few years so that a trophy can become a visual icon of the race,” he explained. “There are potential pressures – a race sponsor could potentially want to create trophies that represent their brand, for example.
“I’d also want to get back to the drawing board for future races if I felt a trophy design wasn’t well received by the drivers and fans or if the design began to feel dated.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
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