I think that happened because of Sienna's death, and I think it was the replacement driver that got the zero, coming in to replace senna (was it coulthard?)
IIRC, Senna had #2 and Hill #0 because Prost had retired after winning the WDC taking his #1 with him. The same the year earlier with Mansell. After Senna´s death, the replacement drivers got #2.
The first time round, Prost was offered the option of having #0 or #2. He took #2 saying: "Who wants to be a zero?"
I think this is a good idea - much better than the double points for the last race. For it to work the number has to actually be visible on the car. Yesterday on Twitter there was a discussion about the numbers on the 2013 Force India. The car number is actually on the front wing between the 2 uprights so is as good as invisible! Once numbers are allocated it will give benefits though as you could wear a cap with your favourite drivers number on and it doesn't matter if he changes team. In the UK it is quite common to see a car with a Yellow 46 sticker on. It shows that the driver is a fan of Moto GP rider Valentino Rossi.
In NASCAR, you can have the 0, and the 00(which is currently in use). Personally, I like the way F1 does it, as even with little knowledge or history of F1, I can look at a model of Arnoux's '79 car, and know how his team finished in the last season. If a Ferrari has a #5, I know last year they were 3rd, etc. I can understand driver's wanting a brand, but it looses some of the team aspect. In F1, car # is so small these days, that you really can't tell in person or TV. I do like the way they've done in it the past for the history aspect, but am fine with the change as well. It did initially take some getting used to the same driver in the same car having different race #'s across seasons, but now I'm used to it.
What's the reasoning behind this rubbish? Seriously between this and double points for the last race of the year.. I want to smoke what the FIA is smoking!
This is a sop to the drivers. It allows them to "brand" themselves more efficiently. Like THAT'S a burning issue. A big FU to the fans.
There seems to be a few on here who think that certain drivers of today, should align themselves with corresponding driver numbers of yesteryear. I cant see any driver out to make a name for him self use a number on his car that's already been made notorious by a past driver. For example why on earth would 2 times world champion Alonso, want to use the number 27 just because zero times world champion Gilles Villeneuve had it on his car. Back then numbers were not half as much as a brand as they no doubt will be from next year. Number=brand=Cash from 2014.
Why not? - Kimi was happy to race with his helmet painted to replicate James Hunt's from the 70's, so what's to say he wouldn't want to use James Hunt's old number? Jean Alesi always said that he felt honoured to race a Ferrari with the #27 on it due to its connections with Gilles Villeneuve. Who's to say Alonso doesn't feel the same way? You don't recall Nigel Mansell's red 5 then? - I seem to recall that it sold a lot of flags back in the day! Currently, about the only thing that is a drivers brand is their helmets (apart from Vettel who seems to change designs with every pit-stop!). Designated numbers will merely help with driver branding, giving the fans a better opportunity to display their allegiance to their favourite driver. TBH, I can't really see what your problem is with drivers having designated numbers. It works pretty well in MotoGP and in NASCAR, so why not have it in F1? "Number=brand=Cash from 2014"? - So? - Nobody is going to be forced to buy numbered merchandise/apparel if they don't want to! Sounds like a fuss over nothing to Me!
First "why not? Because they would want to carve there own slice of history. Wearing a yesteryear number once for one race is not being tied to it. Secondly. Were the hell did you pull that last statment from? Did you see somthing in what I wrote that no one else did? If so highlight it for me. At what point did I say I had a problem with drivers having designated numbers? For the record i think drivers having designated numbers is a great idea ( you can read that three times if it helps u not to mis quote me).
