Drivers in Formula 1 have always had an identifying number slapped on the side of their car. Only
in the last five years have these numbers been directly associated with the drivers
themselves. In the previous 64 years, the number was connected
to the car, and the systems used to assign these numbers has varied wildly.
For the first 24 years, from 1950 to 1974, there was absolutely no consistency in numbering
the entries. And I mean that. The numbers literally changed
from race to race as they were assigned by the race organisers who didn’t have a consistent
system between them. I guess it’s kind of like when you and your
friends go to a one-off kart meeting and just get handed a number. Or when you run a marathon
and just get whatever number they hand you to pin to your vest when you sign up.
There wasn’t even a consistent range of numbers as, very occasionally, some drivers
would be handed 3 digit numbers. I know, right? One of the only unspoken rules seemed to be
to avoid the number 13 as it’s considered an unlucky number in western culture as I’m
sure you’re all aware. What is interesting though is that, despite
Formula 1 being a global sport, there seemed to be no attention to numbers deemed unlucky
in other cultures. For example, 4 and 7 are unlucky in China, 4 and 8 in Japan, the number
17 is unlucky in Italy and 39 doesn’t go down well in Afghanistan. So beware in Baku,
whomever chooses that number. I’m not complaining - that’s just a point
of interest. While this system functioned perfectly fine
in its own way - every driver got a number, after all - it was all in all viewed as a
little bit messy. So in 1973, as the sport was starting to take
itself more seriously as a global venture with a proper, centralised, coherent organisation,
they started trialling a system that would become standard from 1974 onwards - permanent
race numbers. The new system for assigning numbers ends
up a sounding a little bit more complicated than it actually is, and at first glance seems…
a bit ludicrous? But here goes. So, the idea was: every team would get dished
out a set of numbers that would be theirs to keep. And these numbers would be based
on the results of the 1973 Constructor’s Championship positions.
So in 1973, Lotus came first so they got numbers 1 and 2 for 1974. Tyrell came second and got
3 and 4, and so on and so forth in this fashion right down the table.
Note, that we still skip 13 because it’s a spooky, scary number that nobody wants.
In theory, the team would hold onto these numbers permanently, year on year, until the
end of time. So we’d start to think of 11 and 12 as Ferrari numbers. 5 and 6 were McLaren
numbers. Easy to remember. Simple. Now, there were also extra numbers handed
out for one-off extra races, like non-works entries that didn’t enter every race or
when teams ran third cars occasionally or whatever and they’d just be given the next
number on the list. So that all seems pretty easy, right? Everyone
gets those numbers forever and we never have to think about it again. Job done.
Except. Each year the numbers 1 and 2 would go to the team running the driver’s champion
of the previous year. The only exception being if the reigning champion retired, in which
case the team would run 0 and 2. So if we go forward a year: Emerson Fittipaldi
won the title in 1974 so in 1975, he and his team McLaren got the numbers 1 and 2.
This means Lotus surrendered their 1 and 2 and took the 5 and 6 given up by McLaren.
So the old champions just swapped numbers with the new champions.
Also, in 1975, BRM chose to run just a single car instead of two so their old number 15
became vacant and was used by both Lotus and Tyrell as and when they chose to run a 3rd
car in certain events. Ok… (?)
In 1975, Ferrari won so then in 1976 McLaren got their old number 11 and 12. And already
you can see how the permanent number concept is falling apart as McLaren have had three
different number pairs in the first three years on the system, and the number 15 has
been used by multiple teams in the same year. Just to confuse it more, if a team leaves
the championship for whatever reason, their numbers can become vacant and unused. Or a
new team or existing team with a lower set of numbers can choose to take those numbers
for themselves. This shuffling about and filling in vacant
numbers meant that Ferrari, after holding the champion’s 1 and 2 in 1980, dropped
to number 27 and 28 the following year. These numbers they’d hold onto for almost every
one of the years that the system persisted. As such, these numbers became synonymous with
Ferrari, particularly the 27 which Gilles Villeneuve held during his dramatic years
with the team. Tyrell would hold onto 3 and 4 for the entire
21 years of this number system as they never missed a season, won the driver’s title
or hired a reigning champion in that time. Mansell’s famous ‘Red 5’ insignia came
from his time at Williams, who held the 5 and 6 from 1984 through to his title win in
1992. Ultimately though, despite some iconic numbers
bubbling through, this system was also a bit of a mess with no real permanency and weird
gaps appearing in the number list. Changes were brought in again to tidy everything up.
1996 brought in something much simpler, but a little less permanent.
The new system expanded on the idea of the driver’s champion getting the number 1.
This time the champion got their number 1 and their team mate got the number 2. So far,
so similar. Then, after that, every other team was assigned
numbers based on their position in the previous year’s championship.
So in 1997, Ferrari got the 1 & 2 as they’d signed Schumacher, who had won the championship
in 1995. Everyone else got their numbers based on their positions, with the previous constructor’s
champions, Benetton, having to take the 3 and the 4, and the number 13 being skipped
as usual. This was a very easy to follow system that
also gave the numbers a kind of value. The lower the numbers on your team’s cars, the
better it reflected on the team. Again, if the driver’s champion retired
immediately after their success, their team would run a 0 instead of the elusive 1. Mercedes
would have had to run this number in 2017 had the system still been in place after Nico
jumped ship, trophy in hand. A notable quirk that came out of this system
is that car number 22 won the driver’s title two years in a row. You’d think this would
be extremely unlikely as the 22 is given to a car in a very low ranking team. However,
circumstances conspired to give the number a little luck.
In 2007, McLaren were stripped of all their points following a spying scandal leaving
them dead last in the constructor’s tables. So, lucky them, they got given the numbers
22 and 23 despite being a title contending team and Lewis Hamilton duly went and won
the title in that car number 22. The next year, Jenson Button won the title
for Brawn GP that also ran the numbers 22 and 23 due to a weird quirk of fate. In fact,
Super Aguri had dropped out in the previous year so the numbers 22 and 23 shouldn’t
even have been available. But, Jenson’s Honda team made the surprise
move of dropping out of F1. The team was purchased and brought back to life as Brawn GP, meaning
they had to take the last numbers available. As Honda had disappeared, technically Force
India should have shuffled up to the 18 and 19 slots, giving Brawn 20 and 21, but Force
India had already printed out all their marketing material with their 20 and 21 numbers on so
Brawn got 22 and 23 and no one got 18 and 19.
Good pub quiz question that. When was the last F1 season without a number 18 or 19 car
in it? 2009. Though 18 and 19 have only both been present once in the last five years.
More fun trivia. I hope you’re writing this down.
So there was nothing particularly wrong with this method of doling out numbers. But in
2014, it was decided to assign entry numbers to the drivers, instead of the cars.
This has worked very well in other motorsports as well as sports without motors as it becomes
part of a driver’s brand, their identity within the sport.
Once picked, this number is permanently assigned to that drivers, unless they absent themselves
from F1 for two full consecutive seasons. So Jenson Button’s two little ducks won’t
be up for grabs until 2020 as he made a brief cameo in Monaco 2017.
The way the numbers were originally assigned was this:
Each driver listed three preferred numbers in order of preference. Then the FIA sat down
and worked really hard to make sure everyone got given a number that was as high up their
list as possible. Bizarrely, Pastor Maldonado actually chose
the number 13, famous unavailable for almost every single race previously (save for a couple
of rare occasions). Going forward, as drivers enter the sport,
they can choose from any of the available numbers. They can’t pick numbers already
taken or numbers that have been used in the last two seasons.
Here’s your first interesting fact: despite the system only being in place for five years,
we’ve already had repeated number use, with Brendan Hartley talking Will Steven’s old
number 28 and Pierre Gasly taking Kamui Kobayashi’s old number 10. That means the current Toro
Rosso squad is running second hand numbers. The number 17 has, of course, been permanently
retired out of respect for Jules Bianchi, who wore the number until his death following
an accident in Japan. As usual, the number 1 is reserved for champions
but as unusual, the champion doesn’t have to take it. As such, Sebastian Vettel is the
only champion to choose to bear the number 1, with Hamilton sticking with 44 and Rosberg
legging it before he had to make the choice. What’s interesting to me is that despite
driver’s being able to choose from any number between 2 and 99, almost all of the chosen
number fall in the top 30, with 15 the only unused number in the top 20. What’s wrong
with 15? I’ll leave you to guess that. Multiples of 11 are extremely popular though,
with11, 22, 33, 44, 55, 77, 88 and 99 all being snapped up at some point. No number
66 though, probably in case the stewards think Adrian Sutil has flipped upside down.
On top of the standard race numbers, teams are also given a few extra numbers that they
can use for reserve drivers, test drivers, the drivers they put out into Free Practice
- that kind of thing. These are temporary numbers - so, for example, Vandoorne was given
the number 47 when he subbed in for Alonso in the year before he got a permanent drive
and Hartley used 99 through some of last year So far no race driver has taken my favourite
number - 38. Once they do though, they will receive my undying support and will, naturally,
be able to do no wrong in my eyes. So let’s all cross our fingers for someone
good taking 38, eh.
Thanks for watching that video. As an aside I’d like to mention Team Light Riders, who
are putting a design together for the international F1 in Schools competition. Please do check
them out on Instagram, which will grow as the project progresses. There’s a link in
the description. The next video on this channel will be an
hour long Season in Review video that should be both a lot of fun and a great example of
me biting off way more than I can chew. Please join me there so we can commiserate the end
of the season together and look back at the stories that unfolded through the year.