The changing significance of F1 car numerals.
When Emerson Fittipaldi won his first Formula 1 drivers’ championship in 1972, his beautiful black and gold cigarette advertisement wore nine different car numbers through the 12-race season.This story originally appeared in Volume 34 of Road Track.
In those days, the organizers of each race basically assigned car numbers. Imagine such a thing happening in today’s merch-centric, celebrity-driver era? Car numbers have always been an easy shorthand for driver names, usefully requiring fewer characters and therefore less space, but today they’re also part of a driver’s portfolio of brand attributes.All of this numbers talk takes me simultaneously to a warehouse about an hour’s drive from Barcelona and to my living room couch. First, my couch. Watching a race last year, my teenage daughter said to me, “I mean, it seems kind of conceited!” We were talking about how Max Verstappen’s car carried the No. 1 and she thought that was an unnecessary flex. It must be said that she does not care for Verstappen’s demeanor. I pointed out to her that traditionally the drivers’ champion gets the option of using the No. 1 for the following season. Further, she is young and I am old. So, the only champion she knew before Verstappen was Lewis Hamilton, who notably kept his No. 44 during his long reign. She understands now and still does not care for Verstappen. The No. 1 rule came into effect for 1974, too late for Fittipaldi’s first championship but just in time for his second. His McLaren-Ford carried the No. 5 throughout ’74. As reigning champ, Emmo would assume the No. 1 for the 1975 season.Which brings us to that warehouse outside Barcelona. Photographer Brodén was lured out there by a friend for a surprise. Inside sat the Hesketh-Ford 308B seen in his image on the cover of this, the Numbers issue. The No. 24 car was driven by James Hunt, a man with a known attraction to figures, throughout the 1975 season, including the first win of his F1 career at the Dutch GP. Hunt went on to win the championship in 1976. And guess what number his car carried in 1977?
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