Pick a number

I can see Red Bull having a number 83 in there somewhere. Something to do with the can size, which was why their NASCAR team used it.

I can definitely imagine Alonso picking 27 - not just the traditional Ferrari link, but Senna won one of his titles with that number - and Hamilton 44, which was a favourite of his in karting (I think he also had some success with 25). Indeed, we could see a few old karting numbers revived; it was probably the last time most of the current grid got to keep a number for any length of time. And Kimi may well pick 69, just for the hell of it... ;)

Of course, the irony of all this is that even picking your own number, you won't beat the current records for smallest and largest winning car numbers - 0 (any of Damon Hill's first nine wins) or 101 (Alberto Ascari, 1952 German Grand Prix, which was entirely contested by cars with three-figure numbers!).

Just as long as we don't go down the NASCAR route of allowing two-figure numbers with a leading zero...

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Originally Posted by inimitablestoo

Just as long as we don't go down the NASCAR route of allowing two-figure numbers with a leading zero...

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I have no problem with this.
Australian touring car drive Peter Brock ran the number 05 from 1978 onwards because of the 0.05% blood alcohol limit in Victoria. Mind you, that's a little strange in itself because on one hand it's an anti-drink driving message and on the other, the car was sponsored by Marlboro.

Also:

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BbJ8s3nCUAAeXJB.jpg
This is the Australian GP in 2004; Jensen Button's BAR. Looky looky, what do I spy on the rear? 09

09 is a pun. The Oni are a kind of Japanese devil; Jensen can drive like a demon.
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oni

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Originally Posted by odykas

Good news is that number 13 is available.

I wonder who will get it.

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Well, Mark has left the building. Daniel?

The only - slight flaw I can see in the system is that if it works as intended, and numbers get associated with particular drivers, then those numbers will continue to be associated with them after they retire. We've often seen numbers in the likes of NASCAR 'retired' out of respect for a particular driver, meaning they aren't available to use any more.

Bottas could be:
8O7TAS #87
8OT7AS #87
8OTTA5 #85
80TTAS #80
BO77AS #77
BOT7A5 #75
BO7TA5 #75
8OTTAS #8
BO7TAS #7
BOT7AS #7
BOTTA5 #5

and same with other drivers

K1M1 #11

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Originally Posted by Mark

The only - slight flaw I can see in the system is that if it works as intended, and numbers get associated with particular drivers, then those numbers will continue to be associated with them after they retire. We've often seen numbers in the likes of NASCAR 'retired' out of respect for a particular driver, meaning they aren't available to use any more.

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Nascrap aside, and this may well be the practice in Euro ball ;), but in the U.S. professional teams permanently retire #s of players who have exceptional careers for that franchise, it is however very infrequent. So that simply means that no player for that franchise will have that # available when choosing one. It doesn't stop Joe Blow of the Toledo Mud hens from wearing #21 which was the great Roberto Clemente's # when he played for The Pittsburg Pirates and is permanently retired and not available to a player for that team. The same should be true for F1 IMO. Let the teams retire numbers and if a pilot for another team wants to use it, fine that pilot would simply not be allowed to use the number for the team that retired it. Problem solved. :bulb:

That could get tricky if I'm talking about driving for Ferrari and I have #27 but they are like no way, the great Alonso had that number and we retired it. There goes my Ferrari dreams and it's all YOUR fault :(

Actually, NASCAR's policy is not to retire numbers - indeed, I read just a few minutes ago that Dale Earnhardt's legendary #3 will be back in the Sprint Cup next year. CART retired a couple of numbers (although the 14 "unretired" before the merger, and 99 has been used since the merger) but the only other motor racing series I can think of off hand that did this was, randomly, British Formula Ford, which retired the number 8 after the death of Neil Shanahan in 1999.

I think there's an early Futurama that parodies the whole retired numbers idea when the only numbers left for players to use are things like pi and quite specific fractions :D

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Originally Posted by Mark

That could get tricky if I'm talking about driving for Ferrari and I have #27 but they are like no way, the great Alonso had that number and we retired it. There goes my Ferrari dreams and it's all YOUR fault :(

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Dude, you’d take any freakin # for a Ferrari ride. Sometimes just step off your highish horse ;)

Anyone care to guess what numbers the top drivers will choose next year?