Vitaly Petrov is to race with a black helmet for the rest of the Italian Grand Prix weekend as a mark of respect for the victims of the Russian plane crash earlier this week.
Almost the entire Lokomotiv ice hockey team were killed when the Yak-42 plane they were travelling in from Yaroslavl crashed shortly after take-off on Wednesday. To show his respect for the 43 people who died, Petrov will compete with an all-black helmet for practice, qualifying and the race.
"I want to offer my greatest condolences to all the families and friends of victims of this awful catastrophe", said Petrov. "It doesn't matter which team you support, the whole of Russia is shocked by what has happened. I don't understand how things like that could have happened because after recent catastrophes aviation control was doubled".