This is a collection of posts about this subject. Since they were
written some months ago, some of the info is outdated. I inserted
corrections between rectangular brackets.
From rps Sun Jan 18 22:13:02 1998
Subject: Number 13 in car races
Newsgroups: rec.autos.sport.f1
A frequently asked question here is:
Q: Why is the number 13 not used in F1 ?
A: The answer, according to the July 1996 issue of the French
Sport-Auto (page 79) is that in the 1926 edition of the Targa Florio,
the driver Giulio Masetti died driving a car with the number 13.
Masetti had previously won the Targa Florio two times (1921, 1922)
and finished in 2nd once (1924).
You can see all the podiums in the Targa Florio at:
http://www.silhouet.com/motorsport/archive/gen/targafl.html
Since that time, the number 13 is not issued by organizers of car races,
although a driver is allowed to request it.
BTW, Giulio Masetti was also a Grand Prix driver. He finished 3rd in
the 1925 French GP. Searching for his name in Altavista I found another
interesting page: http://www.pisoft.it/rinascimento/musleo.html
In it you can read how Masetti offered in 1919 the building in
which now is a museum about Leonardo da Vinci (photo at:
http://www.leonet.it/news/infocit/fotvinc.jpg ).
If you can't read Italian, try:
http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/cgi-bin/translate?urltext=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2episoft%2eit%2frinascimento%2fmusleo%2ehtml&languagepair=ie
It is funny at least (And I liked the Douglas Adams reference on the
URL of the translation service).
From rps Fri Oct 11 11:44:12 1996 (modified Nov 8)
Subject: Re: How are the driver numbers dished out
Newsgroups: rec.autos.sport.f1
References: <53fvo8$pnq@eccles.dsbc.icl.co.uk>
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Reply-To: rps@mat.uc.pt
Distribution:
Thomas Peter Kiel Rasmussen (u960968@daimi.aau.dk) wrote:
> Peter Tilmanis wrote:
> > On 9 Oct 1996 10:45:28 GMT, alien@oasis.icl.co.uk (Rob Snow) wrote:
> > > I am a bit puzzled on how the driver numbers are allocated.
> > The team of which the WC is in gets 1 & 2 (hence Ferrari getting them
> > this year with Schumi on board)
> > Then they go by the constructor's standings for the previous year.
> > Benetton was 1st, so they get 3 & 4, Williams 5 & 6, etc..
> The `, how come Ferrari had number 27 on Alesi's car last year?
Here we go again. Next time check dejanews (http://www.dejanews.com/)
for the previous discussion.
What confuses people is that 1996 was the first year since 1973 in which
the numbers were attributed according to the rules written above by Peter
Tilmanis. In 1973, the same rules were used to decide the first set of
numbers (previously, that is, until 1972, the drivers had different
numbers at each GP).
[Now, the FIA has announced that the rules in 1997 will be the same as
in 1996. We can expect this set of rules to be used for some years.]
In all the years from 1973 to 1995, the rule was simply:
- the team with the current champion receives the numbers 1 and 2 by
exchanging their old numbers with the team of the previous champion
- in 1993 and 1994 the current champion was not racing, so the numbers
were 0 and 2.
- new teams received the first(?) numbers available, so at a time there
were cars numbered thirty-something (like 32 and 33 for the Jordans
in 1992 and even 34 and 35 for the Lambo in 1991. I even found a 39
for the Life in 1990, although the 37 and 38 were not in use)
- there have been some compactation like Jordan changing to 14 and 15,
but this was the general rule.
Why the change of rules ? With only 22 cars at the start of the season
it did not make much sense to have numbers like 27 and 28 (Ferrari).
Another way to look at it is that such number scheme made it much too
obvious that F1 is in decline.
What will happen in 1997 ? I think it was not officially announced if
there will be only the exchanging of the number 1 from Ferrari to Arrows,
or if all the numbers will be reassigned as in 1996.
[This was written two months before the FIA announced the 1997 numbers.
As we now know the numbers were reassigned.]
It won't make much difference since this year's championship is not much
different from last year's.
1995 1996
1 - Benetton-Renault Williams-Renault 175
2 - Ferrari Ferrari 70
3 - Williams-Renault Benetton-Renault 68
4 - McLaren-Mercedes McLaren-Mercedes 49
5 - Ligier-Mugen-Honda Jordan-Peugeot 22
6 - Jordan-Peugeot Ligier-Mugen-Honda 15
7 - Sauber-Ford Sauber-Ford 11
8 - Footwork-Hart Tyrrell-Yamaha 5
9 - Tyrrell-Yamaha Footwork-Hart 1
10- Minardi-Ford Minardi-Ford (zero, so not
classified)
As Hill got the championship and that Ferrari got the 2nd place in the
championship, the numbers for 1997 will be:
just
reassigned exchanged 1996 1995
with #1
Footwork-Yamaha 1 & 2 1 & 2 16 & 17 9 & 10
Williams-Renault 3 & 4 5 & 6 5 & 6 5 & 6
Ferrari 5 & 6 16 & 17 1 & 2 27 & 28
Benetton-Renault 7 & 8 3 & 4 3 & 4 1 & 2
Mclaren-Mercedes 9 & 10 7 & 8 7 & 8 7 & 8
Jordan-Peugeot 11 & 12 11 & 12 11 & 12 14 & 15
Ligier-Mugen-Honda 14 & 15 9 & 10 9 & 10 25 & 26
Sauber-Ford 16 & 17 14 & 15 14 & 15 29 & 30
Tyrrel-Ford 18 & 19 18 & 19 18 & 19 3 & 4
Minardi-Hart? 20 & 21 20 & 21 20 & 21 23 & 24
Stewart-Ford 22 & 23 22 & 23 -/- -/-
Lola-Ford? 24 & 25 24 & 25 -/- -/-
In the unlikely event that Forti returns, they will get 22 & 23 pushing
Stewart and Lola one position down.
I suspect Ferrari would prefer if the numbers are reassigned.
--
http://www.mat.uc.pt/~rps/f1/ an ex-tifoso until the end of 1997
.pt is Portugal| `Whom the gods love die young'-Menander (342-292 BC)
Europe | Villeneuve 50-82, Toivonen 56-86, Senna 60-94
From rps Tue Oct 15 14:37:12 1996
Subject: Re: How are the driver numbers dished out
Newsgroups: rec.autos.sport.f1
References: <53fvo8$pnq@eccles.dsbc.icl.co.uk> <325ca250.9944492@news.netspace.net.au> <325DEE8D.4EB6@daimi.aau.dk> <53l8dp$lvh@morgana.mat.uc.pt> <53ma2p$soq@news.xs4all.nl>
Reply-To: rps@mat.uc.pt
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Jelle-Frodo Huisman (jfrodo@xs4all.nl) wrote:
> - When and how did Ferrari obtain the numbers 27 & 28?
In 1980 they were using 1 and 2 since Jody Scheckter was champion in
1979. In 1981 they lost the 1980 championship to Alan Jones (Williams).
And Williams was using the numbers 27 and 28 since 1978 (their first year ?).
> - When Alain Prost drove around in the Ferrari no.1,
1990
> who got the cool numbers 27 & 28 that year? (McLaren?)
Yes. Senna had 27.
As usual all this info and more can be found at:
http://www.siii.pt/f1/
--
http://www.mat.uc.pt/~rps/f1/ an ex-tifoso until the end of 1997
.pt is Portugal| `Whom the gods love die young'-Menander (342-292 BC)
Europe | Villeneuve 50-82, Toivonen 56-86, Senna 60-94
From rps Fri Aug 16 13:38:46 1996
Subject: Re: Car numbering System
Newsgroups: rec.autos.sport.f1
References:
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Daniel Lyddy (daniell@netcom.com) wrote:
> I didn't see this question in the recent FAQ that went by, so I thought I'd
> ask it. It probably belongs in there, somewhere.
>
> Q: Who assigns car numbers to F1 teams,
Since 1973, the FIA. Before that, every GP organizer.
> and what criteria do they use?
It depends. Once in 73 and at the beginning of this season
[and for 1997] the following scheme was used:
1 - 2 go to the team where the champion is.
The other teams receive the numbers in the order of their placement on
the constructors championship the previous year (so, this year 3 - 4
Benetton, 5 - 6 Williams, etc...)
During all the other years (1974 - 1995) the numbers were the same as
the previous year, except that the team with the champion got numbers 1
and 2 by exchanging with the team who used those numbers the previous year.
Example: In 1990 Prost moved to Ferrari carrying the number 1 and
McLaren received the 27 and 28 used by Ferarri the previous year.
There have been 2 years recently in which the champion was not racing
in F1 (1993 and 1994). Those years the team were the champion was used
number 0 and 2.
It is not know if next year FIA will get back to this scheme or if they
will reassign numbers based on this year championship.
[Now it is know.]
--
http://www.mat.uc.pt/~rps/f1/ an ex-tiffoso until the end of 1997
.pt is Portugal| `Whom the gods love die young'-Menander (342-292 BC)
Europe | Villeneuve 50-82, Toivonen 56-86, Senna 60-94
From rps Fri Aug 30 13:17:49 1996
Subject: Re: Car numbering System
Newsgroups: rec.autos.sport.f1
References: <4v2k8o$jsg@bert.compusmart.ab.ca>
<4v4ov7$8jk@news.gem.co.za> <321617d7.90062784@news.islandnet.com>
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Sylvan Smyth (sylvan@islandnet.com) wrote:
> Then they lost it immediately back to McLaren, who had inherited 27/28
> from Ferrari when Prost bolted. So Ferrari were stuck with 27/28 for
> another 5 uncompetitive years. It looks like they'll have 5/6 next
> year, or 7/8 if McLaren can jump the one point gap between them in the
> last 4 races.
You are assuming that next year it will happen the same as this year in
which team received numbers based on their placement on last year's
constructors championship. But that was done only because having number
28 in use with only 22 cars had become a little ridiculous and also
the numbers no longer reflected the value of the teams with Tyreel
using a low number inherited from their glory days in the early 70s.
This year there are no such reasons to justify it, and the FIA may well
return to the old practice of only exchanging the numbers 1/2 with the
team of the world champion.
In that case Ferrari will get 5/6 except if Hill wins the championship
and moves to McLaren in which case they will get 7/8.
[This was written before Williams announced the firing of Hill.]
--
http://www.mat.uc.pt/~rps/f1/ an ex-tiffoso until the end of 1997
.pt is Portugal| `Whom the gods love die young'-Menander (342-292 BC)
Europe | Villeneuve 50-82, Toivonen 56-86, Senna 60-94
From rmg19@mail.idt.net (Roy Glikin) Sat, 02 Nov 1996 15:23:00 -0500
From: rmg19@mail.idt.net (Roy Glikin)
Newsgroups: rec.autos.sport.f1
Subject: Re: What is it with 27??? (was Re: Car numbering II)
Date: Sat, 02 Nov 1996 15:23:00 -0500
Organization: IDT
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References:
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It's unlikely Ferrari will use 27 again in the near future. There are
likely to be only 22 cars in the championship. The FIA/FOCA has dropped
numbers higher than 23 (no one uses 13). Notice Ligier is not 25 & 26 this
year, as has been the case since they entered F1.
They used to run as high as 36. Villenueve's McLaren debut had him as
number 40, Mansell's debut in a third Lotus carried 51 and (real trivia
here) J-P Jarier carried 55 when he replaced Ronnie Peterson (#6) at
Lotus for the final two GP's of 79.
The thing about 27 is that it was the number on Gilles car when he died.
The attachment is to the sense of loss. It also helps that Ferrari has
not won the championship since '79 and continued to carry the 27 it was
assigned after Alan Jones/Williams won the 80 championship. Alain Prost
took #1 to Ferrari in 90, sending Ferrari's 27 to Mclaren. Senna's 91
championship sent the 27 back to Ferrari. Like the Babe Ruth curse of the
Boston Red Sox, 27 has been a symbol of Ferrari futility.
Since car numbers have been assigned for the season (early on,through the
mid-sixties?, they were assigned by the race organizer and varied from
race to race) the tradition has been for the championship winning driver
and his team to get 1 & 2 and the former #1 holder to get the numbers used
the previous season by the new #1.
If tradition holds, Ferrari will be 16 & 17 in '97. The numbers carried
by Arrows in '96. However, the numbering rationalization of 1996, seems
to have assigned numbers in order of placement in the 1995 constructor's
championship, after assigning 1 & 2 to the Champion and his teammate.
Which is why Tyrrell is no longer 3 & 4 (another symbol of futility,
they've carried these numbers since '74 and Jackie Stewart's retirement)
rather Benetton (the 1995 constructor's champion).
If the numbers are assigned again by Constructor points, then Williams
will be 3 & 4 and Ferrari 5 & 6.
There won't be a 27 again until there are 13 or 14 teams in the
championship. Who knows when that will be?