Is it me or has the FIA completely lost there mind with these new rules coming down?
I might be alone on this, but I kinda like the idea of a permanent driver #...has the potential to be iconic, like #23 of Michael Jordan.
The crazy part is the FIA was going to let the drivers champion decided if they wanted #1 or not. FIA has gone ape @*it.
Driver who finished first this year can choose first. So it'll make no difference to seb then! I assume it'll trickle down after that. Maldonado and Grosjean should choose between 11 and 88 IMO...it's the same upside down!
Not for Me - He's fast but he lacks the spirit for the number! I think it should be Kimi! Like Gilles, he's quiet off track and (please excuse the crudeness of this statement!), a balls out racer on track who likes to do things his way. He just wants to go fast and win! I could also accept Alonso having it or Hamilton (I bet that'll surprise a few on here!), because they both show a similar natural talent to Gilles' and are both true racers along with Kimi. (Ultimately, if I were in charge of the FIA, #27 would not be available, but I am biased! ). Next question: Will any driver be brave enough to break with F1 tradition and ask for #13?
I love this actually. It would take a couple years to get used to but after that it would be great. Works just fine in NASCAR. These days, whenever there is a drive through penalty or something I can never remember who "car 8" is for example. This would solve that.
It might be for fans such as myself that are new to F1 and cant always recognize the racers by their helmets. Makes it much easier to pick out the drivers if you can associate the car with the big #1 on it as Vettel, #2 as Alonso, etc... Much like MotoGP (which I follow religiously), certain numbers just "belong" to that rider. #46 in my head will always be Valentino Rossi, #27 belongs to Stoner... FIA probably sees $$$ signs with a rule like this. Because of Rossi you can toss a yellow #46 on a plain black shirt and sell it for $50
Another complete load of BS IMO. It's not like we can even see the numbers these days anyway. (Takes billboard space away you know!) OTOH, I guess there's nothing inherently wrong with permanent #'s. Just leave 27 retired. Cheers, Ian
Permanent numbers look cool for a while, but when a driver retires and "his" number passes to another driver... it´s somewhat "awkward". I vote NO.
#27 should be reserved for a Ferrari driver, don't you think? Would Alonso take it? It would look awkward in any other car. The same way the #0 would look weird on a non Williams car. Actually, can they claim #0? Probably not.
I feel awkward watching all other sports in the world. BTW, I don´t know in the USA, but in Europe it´s not that common at all.
+1 You can also check by the colour of the top camera but I always forget. Helmet it is for me...Was confusing this year with both the merc boys in yellow (Hamilton's slightly darker) and the Perez in yellow...whenever he crashed into someone I thought it was Hamilton for the first 10 or so races!
Was Andrea de cesaris (crasheris) number 8 when he was with mclaren? They gave him that number cause it looked the same upside down....
