Helmet aerodynamic apendages?

[strad]

Most of the devices are to help eliminate buffeting and lift.
I like tha Kimi pic...cute

[ESPImperium]

Helmet aero is more to keep the drivers head stable and minimize pressure on his neck, but be easy enough to maneuver so he can move his neck whilst cornering. However helmets arnt ment for aero as they are a safety item ans shouldn't be used for aero, if they could, some designers would design a helmet that would be better for the cars aero than the drivers safety.

[raymondu999]

Vettel's Abu Dhabi helmet again sported a mini-wing with a slot gap between the "helmet" and the flick up

[bhall]

[krisfx]

I know a chin spoiler is used for feeding more air into the front two vents, as people have said, the rear spoilers smooth air over the drivers' head and stop buffeting. The appendages you speak of on massa's helmet is a similar thing to an arai chin and the bell top vent, just helps feed more air through the cooling ducts really. I think it's personal preference what the driver wants tbh, I know massa once moaned about his windscreen curvature because it was affecting his helmet.. haha.

[krisfx]

Vettel's Abu Dhabi helmet again sported a mini-wing with a slot gap between the "helmet" and the flick up

Could be because he likes to be different/the other spoiler blocks the ducts on the back of his lid and he's not happy

[Cam]

Some info here done on early Helmet aerodynamics.

At speeds of 220 MPH (354 km/h) the driver could feel an upward pull in excess of 50 lbs (222 N). In addition, the helmets were subject to violent side-to-side buffeting. These forces strain and fatigue the drivers' necks as well as blurring their vision.

Source

[Cam]

There's obviously gains to be had here so I can see why they're playing around with this. Here's some info for bike racing helmets, now I know its not F1, but the principals are the same and its interesting to see the time gains by getting it right. It'll be great to see actual motor racing helmet stats - if they exist?

[Tommy Cookers]

Some info here done on early Helmet aerodynamics.

In addition, the helmets were subject to violent side-to-side buffeting

this is (Karman) vortex shedding, Reynolds no dependent and related to interaction of helmet and screen ?
(seems to occur on helmet of motorcycle pillion passenger (not rider) on motorcycle with full screen)
this is in part why we see the modern configuations at the rear of the helmet ?

your bicycle stuff in previous post is interesting, presumably the predictions are related to still air use
seems to me that lowest drag in such benign conditions does not read across to real-world wind conditions
(same with disc wheels, often they don't give lower overall drag ?)
crudely speaking, the 'low-drag' shapes respond in part as wings to a crosswind component, and won't give the lowest drag