2024 F1 Driver's Numbers With Backstories

Many fans often get confused by which F1 driver has what number. Here is a summary of everyone's numbers and reasons why they chose them.

Each F1 driver gets one chance at the beginning of his career to choose a number for his car, and he has to stick to it unless he wins the Drivers' Championship.

The winner of the Drivers' Championship each year gets offered #1 instead of his own number that he can but doesn't have to change.

The triple World Champion Max Verstappen has carried the number 1 for the last 2 seasons and will continue with this number in 2024 as well.

His previous number was 33. The 26-year-old explained his lucky number was #3, but it was already chosen by Daniel Ricciardo when he came to the sport, so he went for the double 3 - #33.

Funny enough, the driver with number 2 on his car, Logan Sargeant, also wanted the #3, but he couldn't take it, so he went for #2, with which he had a great season in Formula Renault.

The driver who caused the trouble to the previous two, Daniel Ricciardo, raced under number three from go-karts. He chose the number based on his idol, Dale Earnhardt, who won NASCAR multiple times.

Lando Norris said there is no particular backstory associated with his number. Apparently, he liked Valentino Rossi and thought about choosing #46 but then decided on just #4, which fits well with his branding #L4ndo.

Alpine F1 driver Pierre Gasly is a huge fan of the football player Zinedine Zidane who used to play with #10, so the Frenchman chose this number.

Sergio Perez has a similar reasoning behind his number. Apparently, he is a big fan of Ivan Zamorano and chose the number 11 because of him. The Mexican driver suggested he has #11 even in his email address.

Fernando Alonso won his first karting championship on July 14, 1999, when he was 14. He said he knew back then that would be his number. He races under the same number in 2024 when he turns 43.

Charles Leclerc said his lucky number was #7, but when he came to the sport, it was taken by Kimi Raikkonen, so he chose 16. His explanation is one plus six equals seven.

Stroll has a number 18 on his car because it has brought him success in the rookie series. Moreover, he entered F1 shortly after he turned 18, and the choice was clear for him.

Another driver who chose his number based on the previous success he had with it is Kevin Magnussen with #20. The Dane won the Formula Renault 3.5 Series title with it.

Alex Albon chose his #23 based on sports legends, including Michael Jordan, Lebron James, and David Beckham, who all used to play with this number in certain parts of their careers.

Kobe Bryant played his last seasons with the Lakers with the number 24 on his back. As a big fan of the legendary player, Zhou Guanyu opted for his number.

Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg decided to apply quick maths when coming up with his number. By adding up his day and month of birth (19 August), he got #27.

Esteban Ocon won his first title in karting with #31, and he just continued with the number in his F1 career in a similar fashion to Fernando Alonso.

Yuki Tsunoda is one of the drivers who had to get more creative because their desired number was already occupied. He wanted #11, but it was taken by Perez, so he doubled it and ended up with #22.

Lewis Hamilton didn't know which number to go for at the beginning of his career, so he chose 44 based on the license plates of his father's car. Remarkably, +44 is also a country code for the United Kingdom, where he comes from.

Carlos Sainz's favorite number is five, but when he joined F1, Sebastian Vettel used the number, so he opted for the double five - #55.

George Russell mentioned his brother used to race with #63, so he called it a kind of family number. He also said with some creativity, #63 can become "GR," like his initials, or "GB," like Great Britain, where he's from.

Similar to Charles Leclerc, Valtteri Bottas wanted to take the number seven, but it was taken. And as is the trend with multiple drivers, he just went for the double 7 - #77.

Lastly, McLaren driver Oscar Piastri didn't yet have the chance to explain the significance behind his number #81. He changed multiple numbers throughout his junior career and when he entered F1, he went for the #81.