All drivers in Formula 1 have their own unique and fixed number. Similar to other sports it helps the viewers recognise the drivers on the track.
In F1 this concept was introduced in the 2014 season. Initially, they were handed out based on the standings of the drivers in the previous year’s championship.
Now each driver has to choose their number and stick to it for the entirety of their career in F1. The only exception is given to the driver who wins the world championship. The title champion is given the option to replace his permanent number with the #1.
Although, it’s not just any random number that the drivers pick up. There is always a story that explains the choice of a driver.
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Driver Numbers in 2023
Below are the numbers that drivers have chosen for themselves heading into the 2023 season:
| Number | Drivers |
| 1 | Max Verstappen |
| 2 | Logan Sargeant |
| 4 | Lando Norris |
| 10 | Pierre Gasly |
| 11 | Sergio Perez |
| 14 | Fernando Alonso |
| 16 | Charles Leclerc |
| 18 | Lance Stroll |
| 20 | Kevin Magnussen |
| 21 | Nyck de Vries |
| 22 | Yuki Tsunoda |
| 23 | Alexander Albon |
| 24 | Guanyu Zhou |
| 27 | Nico Hulkenberg |
| 31 | Esteban Ocon |
| 44 | Lewis Hamilton |
| 55 | Carlos Sainz |
| 63 | George Russell |
| 77 | Valtteri Bottas |
| 81 | Oscar Piastri |
Who is driving with #1 on their car in 2023?
Having won two back-to-back championship titles in the past two years, Max Verstappen has picked up the #1 as his car number for the 2023 season.
Immediately after winning his maiden title in 2021, the Dutchman announced that he would take up the #1 on his car and has continued with that since he won the second title as well.
Initially, his driver number was 33 which has a back story. While picking up the #1 for his car, Verstappen explained how often a driver gets a chance to drive with this number.
He said that he can always go back to 33 when he no longer remains the world champion. But as long as he holds the honour, he will stick to number 1 on his car.
4-time world champion Sebastian Vettel was the last person to take up the #1 on his car back in 2014. After that Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg both became champions but the Briton never chose to replace his number while Rosberg hung up his racing shoes after his maiden title.
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What is the reason behind Max Verstappen choosing 33?
Verstappen made his debut in F1 with the number 33 and he chose this number for quite a simple reason. In his junior career, the Dutchman had #3 as his lucky number.
He wanted to use ‘3’ in F1 as well. But when he made his debut, ‘number 3′ was already reserved by Daniel Ricciardo. So, he chose 33 instead “for double happiness.”
Aside from ’33’ Verstappen has also raced with ‘3o’ in the European Formula 3 championship. He also drove under #38 in his debut season in F1 with Toro Rosso.
Why did Lewis Hamilton choose 44?
The story of Hamilton’s car number is a bit emotional. The Briton drove his first kart race with this number.
Although when he was asked to choose a number, he was clueless. So, he chose the number from the license plate of his father’s car which was F44. He laid the foundation of his successful, illustrious career with this number.
Despite winning the world title 7 times, the Briton never chose to replace the number 44 with 1. The Mercedes star explained that many drivers choose number 1 when they win.
But for him, 44 means more than 1. He further added that he won his first kart championship with this number. So, it’s very special to him. Number 1 has been held by many drivers such as Vettel and Michael Schumacher, but no one had 44. “44 is mine,” he told Reuters.
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Why did Charles Leclerc choose 16?
Ferrari’s star Charles Leclerc drives with #16 on his car in F1. Initially, the Monegasque wanted the lucky number ‘7’ on his car but that was already taken up by Kimi Raikkonen.
Next, he wanted 10 on his car but his good friend Pierre Gasly had chosen it. So after a few calculations, Leclerc decided to settle with 16 because as he explained, ’10+7 = 16′. On another note, Leclerc was born on 16 October 1997.
What made George Russell choose 63 as his number?
Russell’s reason to use the number 63 is quite simple. His brother used to kart with the same number, therefore, it became the number of the Russell family ever since.
Usually, the number 63 is illustrated in a way that can be read as ‘GR’ which is Russell’s initials while some also see it as aGB, which stands for Great Britain.
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How Sergio Perez ended up with 11 on his car?
Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez drives under the number 11 on his car. The origin of the story behind his choice of number is not related to motorsport but football.
Perez is a huge fan of Club America and especially adores the former player of the team Ivan Zamorano. 11 used to be Zamorano’s number and since Perez is a huge fan has used it wherever possible.
What made Carlos Sainz choose 55?
Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz races with the number 55 on his car. The simple reason behind that is the ‘S’ in his name looks like a 5; similar is the case of the ‘S’ in his last name. combined, that makes it a ‘#55′
On a different note, he wanted to use the number 5 on his car. Since it was unavailable because it had already been given to Sebastian Vettel, he invented his own word game and ended up with ’55’.
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Lando Norris did not want to be a copycat with his choice
McLaren star Lando Norris has the number 4 to his name and he has no story behind this number. It’s just that it fits well with his name and is easily usable as the famous hashtag ‘L4ndo’.
Unlike other drivers, this is not the number that he has used in his junior classes. Though, he is huge of Valentino Rosso, the MotoGP star and thought about using ’46’ as his number. But he did not want to be a copycat so he opted for 4 instead.
Why Oscar Piastri chose 81 for his rookie season?
Oscar Piastri, Norris’ teammate at McLaren in the 2022 season, chose number 81 for his future in F1. He used to race with number 11 during his karting career. As he climbed up the ladder he found out that he already had a rival racing under this number so he switched to 81 instead.
When he began competing in Europe, the Briton used several different numbers. Eventually returned to 81 when he began competing in British F4 and the Formula Renault Northern European Cup.
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Almost similar stories of Alpine drivers
Alpine driver Esteban Ocon uses the number 31 for fans to recognise him. The story behind why he chose this number was because he clinched his first karting title with that number in 2007.
Even though he is now a Formula 1 driver and drives for one of the best teams on the field, Ocon still considers his karting days as one of the best. He even drove his first F1 car in the test for the Lotus F1 team under the number 31.
Ocon’s new teammate Pierre Gasly chose the number ’10’ to race in his career. Similar to Ocon, Gasly used this number during the most successful season in his junior days. Apart from this, he also uses this number as a tribute to one of France’s most decorated footballers.
Gasly is a huge fan of Zinedine Zidane. The Frenchman used to play for the French national team with jersey number 10 on his back.
How did Aston Martin drivers end up with their numbers?
Aston Martin’s new joinee and the 2-time world champion Fernando Alonso races under the number 14. He chose the number because on 14 July 1999, at the age of 14, Alonso clinched the world championship title in karting.
His teammate, Lance Stroll meanwhile, goes with number 18 on his car. This is because, in the early days of his career, Stroll won the Italian F1 championship title with this race number.
On top of that, only a little while after his 18th birthday, he made it into Formula 1 with the Williams F1 team.
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The reason for the AlphaTauri line-up
AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda chose number 22 for his debut in Formula 1. In his early karting career, Tsunoda drove number 11 and wished to use that number in F1 but it had already been taken by Sergio Perez.
So the Japanese F1 driver simply doubled the number and ended up racing with 22 on his car in F1 instead.
His teammate Nyck De Vries who is replacing Pierre Gasly in the 2023 season chose number 21 for his debut season. He raced with number 17 during his time in Formula E. He even won the championship with the Mercedes team in the 2020-21 season.
But in F1 this number had already been retired following the tragic death of Jules Bianchi. Therefore, the Dutchman ended up taking 21 instead.
How did Alfa Romeo line up end up with their numbers?
Valtteri Bottas has been racing with number 77 for a long time. like many other drivers, the Finnish driver too wanted the lucky number 7 on his car but since it had already been occupied by Kimi Raikkonen, he chose to go with 77 instead.
Cleverly enough he found a way to incorporate his number with his merchandise and made his logo Bo77as.
On the other hand, Guanyu Zhou opted for 24. The last time, this number was used by Timo Glock was in 2012 but that was not the reason why the Chinese opted for this.
Zhou chose this number as a tribute to basketball legend Kobe Bryant who played the last years of his life with Lakers under the jersey number 24.
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Reason for Haas lineup
Nico Hulkenberg will return to the F1 grid in the 2023 season taking a seat next to Kevin Magnussen with the Haas F1 team. he has returned with his iconic number 27.
this number is already quite famous in the world of F1 since it has been used by Gilles Villeneuve. Also on some occasions, even Ayrton Senna and Jean Alesi used this number.
But this is not the reason why he chose this number. It is simply because it is an addition of his date and month of birth i.e. 19 August.
What is the reason for the Williams drivers?
Alexander Albon joined the Williams F1 team in the 2022 season. He chose the number ’23’ for his car. It is a quite renowned number in the world of sports.
This number is held by many well-known athletes such as LeBron James, Michael Jordan and David Beckham.
But this was not the reason why Albon chose this number. Similar to his good friend Norris, the British-Thai driver too is a massive Valentino Rossi fan. During his junior career, he used to race with the number ’46’ on his kart. But when he moved to F1, he resorted to 23 as half of Rossi’s number.
His teammate Logan Sargeant who will make his debut in Formula 1 in the 2023 season after replacing Nicholas Latifi has chosen to stick with ‘2’ on his car.
He revealed that his number is ‘3’ but that was already taken by Daniel Ricciardo. So he decided to go with a winning number from his past. He used to drive with number 2 in Formula Renault and he had a good season with it.
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Which race numbers can not be used in F1?
Apart from the numbers that are already taken by some drivers, there are some other numbers that no F1 driver can choose for themselves. The Drivers are not allowed to pick 17 as their number because it used to be Jules Bianchi’s number.
Bianchi, who was also Ferrari star Charles Leclerc’s godfather, passed away in a tragic accident at the Suzuka track in 2014. As a tribute, the F1 decided to withdraw this race number from the options.
How long a driver can hold on to their number?
In case a driver retires from F1 they have up to two years to use the number that they chose in case they make a comeback.
During this period, the number is reserved and cannot be used by any other driver. But if a driver returns after a long absence they must choose a new starting number.
Here are the numbers that cannot be used in 2023:
| Number | Held by | Expires |
| 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | 2024 |
| 5 | Sebastian Vettel | 2024 |
| 6 | Nicholas Latifi | 2024 |
| 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | 2023 |
| 9 | Nikita Mazepin | 2023 |
| 17 | Jules Bianchi | Permanent |
| 47 | Mick Schumacher | 2024 |
| 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi | 2023 |
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