British metal icons Iron Maiden are currently embarking on the second part of their Legacy of the Beast world tour, which was postponed at the start of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the last few weeks, the band has been on the second leg of its 2022 jaunt, which takes in Latin America, South America and North America.
On Wednesday 7 September, the band played a show in Mexico City at the country’s F1 venue Hermanos Rodriguez in the Foro Sol stadium section of the track.
To celebrate the event, the band has released a limited run of tour t-shirts featuring an F1-inspired theme.
Featuring a number of mock F1 cars driven by various incarnations of the band’s famous mascot Eddie the Head, three-time grand prix winner Perez appears as the driver of the second car in the picture.
When asked about the t-shirt by Autosport during the Italian Grand Prix, Perez said: "I haven't seen it, [but] it's a great compliment!"
This isn’t the first time Iron Maiden and motorsport have collided.
The band’s Trooper Beer brand has been a long-time sponsor of nine-time Isle of Man TT winner Peter Hickman.
That association began back in 2015, with the Trooper Beer brand continuing to sponsor Hickman in the Supersport class at the TT since then.
As a result of this, Hickman has appeared on t-shirts for Iron Maiden’s Book of Souls world tour in 2017 and the UK leg of the Legacy of the Beast tour in 2018.
Touring car ace Anthony Reid also ran a Trooper Beer-backed car in the VW Funcup in Great Britain several years ago.
Iron Maiden has regularly played the Hermanos Rodriguez circuit during its trips through Mexico, but has also played at other race tracks over the years.
They headlined the Rock am Ring festival as recently as 2014 held at Germany’s Nurburgring, while it played an outdoor show at MotoGP’s Dutch Grand Prix venue Assen on its 2008 Somewhere Back In Time world tour.
It also commemorated this with a special Superbike-themed t-shirt. In the 1990s, the band headlined the musical activity at the Bol d’Or motorcycle endurance race at Paul Ricard.
Long-time band guitarist Adrian Smith is also a keen F1 fan, having visited several grands prix as a guest of Renault in the past.
