Formula 1 | The numbers that F1 drivers will wear in 2023
Since the 2014 Formula 1 season, drivers have been using a permanent number on their cars, making it easier for fans to recognize them than before. The defending champion can choose to wear their regular number or number 1.
Previously, numbers were assigned based on the previous year’s Constructors’ Championship standings, except for the defending champion who had to wear number 1.
So, we present to you the list of numbers that pilots will wear in 2023 in chronological order. Here is the first part.
1 – Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen chose the number 33 when he started Formula 1 in 2015, but he chose to wear the number 1 this year after winning his first title in 2021. He made the same choice for the following season.
“How many times in your Formula 1 career have you had the chance to drive number 1? You never know” Verstappen explained.
“If I’m no longer world champion, I can always go back to number 33. But as long as I’m there, I’ll use it every year.”
2 – Logan Sgt
Historically worn by a former champion’s teammate, #2 has only been chosen once since the current system was implemented. It was Stoffel Vandoorne who wore it at McLaren in 2017 and 2018.
The American would prefer to race with the number 3, but it will remain owned by Daniel Ricciardo until the end of 2024, as required by the rules.
4 – Lando Norris
If the Briton from McLaren preferred this number, it is mainly a matter of aesthetics: “There’s no story behind it. It looks good with the #L4ndo hashtag, but it’s not a number I use in other categories.”
A big fan of MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi, Norris once considered using number 46 as “The Doctor” but ultimately chose not to copy it.
10 – Pierre Gasly
The choice was made for the new Alpine F1 driver, who is a big fan of footballer Zinedine Zidane, who wore this number when he played for the French team.
In 2013, Gasly also won the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup championship with the number 10.
11 – Sergio Perez
The origin of the Red Bull driver’s choice should still be found in football. A big fan of Club America, who played in Mexico, he particularly admired the number 11, Ivan Zamorano.
“I liked the way Bam-Bam played, the way he scored goals. I became his fan and decided to run with this number. From that day on, I used the number 11 everywhere, in my email address!”
14-Fernando Alonso
To understand the choice of this number for the two-time Spanish world champion, it is necessary to go back to the karting era.
On July 14, 1999, at the age of 14, Alonso became the karting world champion wearing the number 14: “I knew from then on that number 14 would be mine” he explained.
16 – Charles Leclerc
The Ferrari driver would have preferred to use the number 7 on his Formula 1 debut in 2018, but it was used by Kimi Raikkonen, who he will replace at the Scuderia the following year.
Monegasque therefore finally chose this number because “one plus six is seven.”
18 – Lance Stroll
The Canadian driver uses this number for two reasons: because he won the Italian F4 championship with the number 18, and then because he started in F1 shortly after the age of 18.
This is what the Aston Martin driver explained “A bit of a cliché, but I like to hold on to the little things that are important to me. I don’t want to change them.”
20 – Kevin Magnussen
The choice was clear for the Dane, who won the Formula Renault 3.5 championship in 2013 with this number.
He made his F1 debut with McLaren the following year and therefore decided to keep it.
21 – Nyck de Vries
Therefore, the Dutchman chose to wear number 21 in his first season in the starting lineup.
Esteban Gutierrez Haas was the last to wear this number in F1. Having left the discipline at the end of 2016, the Mexican had been available for several years.
