The current system: numbers and marketing
In Formula 1, an immediate and practical way to identify the drivers present on the track has always been to identify the numbers on the single-seaters. In its now 74-year history, however, the premier category of motorsport has varied several times in the way of assigning the numbers intended to identify them to individual drivers or to the various teams. Currently, with one standard in force since 2014each pilot has his own 'personal' numberwith which he is identified for his entire career.
The idea was born with the aim of increase the recognisability of each individual driver, immediately identified with your number. The most emblematic case in recent years was certainly that of Lewis Hamilton, who did not give up his #44 even when he was world champion. In fact, the law provides that the reigning champion has the right to 'wear' #1 – as Verstappen is doing now – but nothing prevents you from keeping your personal number.
For everyone else, however, they are numbers from 2 to 99 available which are chosen at the beginning of a driver's career in F1 and which remain the 'property' of the same driver for up to two seasons following his last GP played. After this period they become accessible to other drivers again, unless they are withdrawn, as for example happened for #17, which remained forever associated with Jules Bianchi after his tragic death in 2015.
Management of the organizers
In the past, however, things were very different: from 1950 to 1973for example, the pilot numbers were assigned from race to race by the organizers of each event, without a coherent method. In those years, therefore, there were numerous cases of drivers who competed with the #1 on the car even without being world champions. Others, however, found themselves racing one Grand Prix after another, always with different numbers. The first significant change occurred in 1974when gods were assigned permanent numbers to the teams based on the placing obtained in the 1973 Constructors' classification.
The first fixed numbers
This assignment should have been permanent, with the possibility of changing only for the team in which the previous year's world champion driver played. The team with the defending champion would take 1 and 2, exchanging its original numbers with the defending champion's team. However, it began immediately with an anomaly: that year, in fact, there was no reigning world champion, given that Jackie Stewart – winner in '73 – had retired. Ronnie Peterson therefore took the number 1 as 'captain' of Lotus, champion among the Constructors.
This system meant that, for example, Tyrrell – who have never won a championship title since – retained the numbers 3 and 4 until the system was changed in 1996. Fixed team numbers have also created some ' myths', such as Ferrari which – starting from 1981 – has often found itself competing with numbers 27-28, which have become iconic for fans of the reds. How can we then forget the particular cases of 'Captain 0', with Damon Hill who ran the 1993 and 1994 seasons with the #0 following the abandonment of the reigning world champion for two consecutive years: first Nigel Mansell and then Alain Prost. Also notable is the fact that – out of good luck – #13 was never assigned.
The revolution of 1996
The last revolution, before that of 2014, took place in 1996. From that season it was decided to vary the numbers per team from year to year: the team in which the world champion raced would always use the 1-2, while the other 'pairs' would vary from one season to the next based on the results of the teams in the Constructors' classification the previous year.
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