Inside the meticulous process of creating Verstappen's cutting-edge F1 helmet

Precision is everything. The giant cutting plotter draws lines, cutting triangles, trapezoids, strips of different lengths and more intricate pieces – some of which resemble squashed earthworms – out of dense fabric. Every millimetre counts. The plotter’s programme is designed to ensure every square metre of material produces as many useful pieces as possible. Waste is kept to a minimum.

“These materials are very expensive, around 150 or 160 euros per square metre,” explains Schuberth Performance CEO Alberto Dall’Oglio, the ‘employer’ of this impressive machine, which is busy cutting out hypometric pieces and ‘worms’ from a roll of carbon fibre, to GP Racing. Here, in the small Italian town of Schio, about 70 miles west of Venice, Schuberth creates the high-tech protection equipment which cradles the heads of three current Formula 1 drivers, including reigning champion Max Verstappen.