Vale's Viagra: Legendary MotoGP ace Valentino Rossi carries 'blue pill' helmet design for San Marino GP

Italian MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi is famous for his special helmet designs for his races, and his latest design has certainly attracted attention, with the lid carrying a familiar-looking blue pill paint job.

The San Marino Grand Prix at the Misano circuit in Rimini is always a special occasion for the Italian, with the circuit the closest to his home town of Tavullia.

And for each race in Rimini he brings out a fresh helmet design, especially for that weekend, which often carries a story about what's happening in his career at that point.

His helmet designs often feature a sun and moon, to reflect the light and dark sides a top-level racer must have to be a success, but on occasion he swaps those out for unique designs, created by famed helmet designer Aldo Drudi.

In 2015, Rossi's Misano helmet depicted as a small fish with a huge shark looming behind him, to reflect his diminishing lead at the top of the driver' standings that weekend, while the previous year his lid featured a design of painted hand prints, dubbed "Give us a hand," as he paid tribute to the legion of fans and family who live locally and give him so much support whenever he races at Misano.

But this year, with the racer known as "The Doctor" in need of a little lift, Rossi and Drudi have come up with a design featuring a Viagra pill on top of his crash helmet, and a pic of a blister pack on the back, showing one pill already having been taken.

Explaining the design, Drudi grinned that the 41-year-old was in need of a boost.

"Two races in Misano and for an old man like Valentino, he needs all the energy possible!"

While Rossi is set to race at Misano this weekend, the other circuit that he has made his own over the years, Mugello, plays host to Formula 1, and the MotoGP ace, who has shown impressive pace when testing Ferrari F1 cars at the circuit in the past, admitted he was a little jealous of his four-wheeled colleagues this weekend.

Rossi also told Motorsport.com that he's "very jealous" of the Formula 1 stars who are racing at Mugello for the Tuscan Grand Prix this weekend, saying that the Italian circuit is "one of the best tracks in the world with a motorcycle, and also with the cars."

"I drove the Ferrari Formula 1 two times in Mugello and it was incredible," he explained.

"One time was also in the wet and was unbelievable, especially Casanova/Savelli, Arrabiata 1, Arrabiata 2.

"In Arrabiata 2, you go flat in a Formula 1 car at 275km/h, and it’s completely blind because in the Formula 1 car you are very low compared to MotoGP, so you don’t see the exit. I think they will enjoy it, and I’m very curious to follow Formula 1 on Sunday.

"I think that the track is a bit narrow for the cars that are very big. But I think everyone will enjoy Mugello a lot."