Driver numbers.

[gjalie]

There was a news item about it not so long ago...something to do with Albers' superstition about always having an odd number on his car throughout his career - like when Rubens requested 11 because it was a lucky number last year

I've noticed the numbers are looking bigger this season, and Honda even have them back on the rear wing endplates! I think going back to the system they had from 1974-95 would be good, with numbers "frozen" and swapped around and occasionally sorted when needs be, would be good - although I DON'T want to see a switch to the US system where a number is just like a franchise or marketing tool - rather than anything with any meaning.

that could get a problem if Albers switched to a team with the world champion (lol)

[ioan]

that could get a problem if Albers switched to a team with the world champion (lol)

Than they are all safe!

[Shifter]

Why does no one get 13?

[Donney]

13 means bad luck.

[Shifter]

because of the old superstition? Or did cars with 13 crash fatally alot? Because the Japanese have their own "bad" number and Sato still drove with it on his car.

[ClarkFan]

Because the Japanese have their own "bad" number and Sato still drove with it on his car.

And look what happened to him that year..........

ClarkFan

[Hawkmoon]

I think the problem we have is the perception that the number belongs to the driver. It doesn't. It belongs to the car, with the exception of #1. That's Alonso's for the time being.

I guess you have three options for car numbers, each with their own pros and cons.

Firstly, you've got the current system which numbers teams in order of championship finish. This works from a status point-of-view as the lower the number, the better you are. It's not so good from an American-style personal number point-of-view as drivers don't have any association with a number that keeps changing.

Secondly, you have the system we had prior to the current system in which teams had their own numbers and only the #1 changed hands. This is good from a team identification persepective. Ferrari became synonomous with #27 and #28, for example. The problem with this system is that a team could lose it's identifying numbers and never get them back. For example, if Ferrari were 27/28 and won the championship from Renault they would be 1/2 the next season and Renault would take 27/28. If McLaren then took the title from Ferrari, they would have the 1/2 and Ferrari would have McLaren's old numbers. Ferrari may never get 27/28 back again depending on their and Renault's relative performances.

The third system would be the American-style system of driver's having personal numbers that stayed with them no matter who they drove for. This is great for personal branding and marketing as a driver and number become synonomous. Of course, this would mean that teams would have two cars with non-consecutive numbers which doesn't work well with F1's sense of a team. F1 likes it's teams to have consecutive numbers for that same reason that it forbids two team cars in different liveries, ie. uniformity.

Personally, I would like to see a return to teams keeping their numbers. It would have been good to see the #27 Ferrari being traced back from Kimi through Schumi, Alesi, Prost and Mansell all the way back to Gilles.

Of course, the numbers would have to be big enough on the cars to be able to be seen, but that's another matter entirely.

[walrus81]

Secondly, you have the system we had prior to the current system in which teams had their own numbers and only the #1 changed hands. This is good from a team identification persepective. Ferrari became synonomous with #27 and #28, for example. The problem with this system is that a team could lose it's identifying numbers and never get them back. For example, if Ferrari were 27/28 and won the championship from Renault they would be 1/2 the next season and Renault would take 27/28. If McLaren then took the title from Ferrari, they would have the 1/2 and Ferrari would have McLaren's old numbers. Ferrari may never get 27/28 back again depending on their and Renault's relative performances.

An exception to this rule was 1993 when Williams went from 5/6 to 0/2, McLaren went from 1/2 to 7/8, and Benetton went from 19/20 to 5/6.

[Ranger]

The third system would be the American-style system of driver's having personal numbers that stayed with them no matter who they drove for. This is great for personal branding and marketing as a driver and number become synonomous. Of course, this would mean that teams would have two cars with non-consecutive numbers which doesn't work well with F1's sense of a team. F1 likes it's teams to have consecutive numbers for that same reason that it forbids two team cars in different liveries, ie. uniformity.

MotoGP would be a better example of this number system, as they went from your average "number according to championship position" to nominal numbers within the last 15 years - and they still retain team liveries.

Non-consecutive numbers doesn't detract from their teams, and considering an official 500cc/MotoGP championship has existed longer than F1's has, I see no reason why F1 teams would be fussed at all.

And yes, the teams have to fix the number visibility problem out first.

[janneppi]

It's hard if half of your wardrobe goes out of date every year because it contains your driver's number.

Serves you right for buying into the merchandise hype.