F1 reveals numbers for 2014 drivers

World champion Vettel opts to use number one.

PARIS:

Formula One drivers revealed their car numbers for the forthcoming season as well as the rest of their careers.

FIA, the sport’s governing body, gave drivers a choice of numbers between 2 and 99 with the number one reserved for the defending world champion, currently Germany’s Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel.

Vettel will opt for the number five in 2015 should he lose his quadruple world title.

The decision to add permanent numbers to the vehicles was taken to boost the sport’s marketing possibilities.

McLaren’s Jenson Button chose 22, which he had on his Brawn F1 car when he won his world title in 2009.

Lewis Hamilton will sport 44 on his Mercedes, the same number he used when he started out as a kart driver.

Kimi Raikkonen has gone for number 7 on his return to Ferrari, where he was world champion in 2007, while teammate Fernando Alonso plumped for 14.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2014.

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