Car numbers - some questions

[Andrelious]

As I have studied the way cars are and used to be numbered, I have some questions.

- Would 0 & 2 be given to the team winning the WCC if the WDC retired?
- In the old system, if a champion switched teams, would 1 & 2 go with him?
- Similarly, if in 94, Prost had returned to replace Senna, would Williams have ended with 1 & 2, 0 & 2 or even 0 & 1?

[Phoenix]

Hi, Andrelious, and welcome to F1 Rejects!

Let's get to work:
-Yes, if a reigning World Champion retires next season, no one has the right to get #1. Case in point: Williams in 1993 and 1994, when Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost retired. However, I believe it wasn't always like this, when car numbers were swapped during a season. For example, Jackie Stewart retired after 1973 but Ronnie Peterson had #1 since Lotus was WCC the year before.
-Yes, it was always like that, at least temporarily in the 50s and 60s.
-I answer this out of pure logic, but I believe they would have reverted to #1-#2, since Prost was the reigning champion.

[dr-baker]

As I have studied the way cars are and used to be numbered, I have some questions.

- Would 0 & 2 be given to the team winning the WCC if the WDC retired?
- In the old system, if a champion switched teams, would 1 & 2 go with him?
- Similarly, if in 94, Prost had returned to replace Senna, would Williams have ended with 1 & 2, 0 & 2 or even 0 & 1?

Hi, Andrelious, and welcome to F1 Rejects!

Let's get to work:
-Yes, if a reigning World Champion retires next season, no one has the right to get #1. Case in point: Williams in 1993 and 1994, when Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost retired. However, I believe it wasn't always like this, when car numbers were swapped during a season. For example, Jackie Stewart retired after 1973 but Ronnie Peterson had #1 since Lotus was WCC the year before.
-Yes, it was always like that, at least temporarily in the 50s and 60s.
-I answer this out of pure logic, but I believe they would have reverted to #1-#2, since Prost was the reigning champion.

As regards the second question, Phoenix, that would not have been the case in the '50s and '60s. In those days, numbers were allocated randomly on a race-by-race basis, so that the number 1 would have no significance at all and could have been allocated to anybody. It first came to represent the WDC in 1973/1974. Constructors otherwise retained the same numbers season after season between 1973 (mid-season) and 1996, after which car numbers depended upon the previous year's WCC, except for the allocation of 1 & 2 (allocated to WDC). As to Andrelious's question, I don't think it ever happened. According to this thread (for which i did the research), only once or twice did a driver score points for more than one team within a given season, none of whom were the world champion.

And as for the last question, Phoenix, are you suggesting that Damon Hill's car number would vary, depending on who his teammate could have been?

[Sunshine_Baby_[IT]]

-I answer this out of pure logic, but I believe they would have reverted to #1-#2, since Prost was the reigning champion.

I don't think so. I'm pretty sure that a team keeps the same numbers throughout all the season, even if the reigning champion comes back in the place of another driver.
And if the reigning champion is replaced by another driver, this one would have the number 1 anyway (I don't remember when it happened, but I think this really happened in the past).

[Phoenix]

Sunshine_Baby_[IT], as far as I know that never happened before. And, as I said, I answered the last question out of pure logic since that has never happened before.

[James1978]

Would have been fascinating to see if Timo Glock had gone a bit faster on the last lap at Interlagos 2008, what car number Badoer and Fisi would have got when subbing for Massa in 2009!

[Faustus]

As I have studied the way cars are and used to be numbered, I have some questions.

- Would 0 & 2 be given to the team winning the WCC if the WDC retired?
- In the old system, if a champion switched teams, would 1 & 2 go with him?
- Similarly, if in 94, Prost had returned to replace Senna, would Williams have ended with 1 & 2, 0 & 2 or even 0 & 1?

Hi, Andrelious, and welcome to F1 Rejects!

Let's get to work:
-Yes, if a reigning World Champion retires next season, no one has the right to get #1. Case in point: Williams in 1993 and 1994, when Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost retired. However, I believe it wasn't always like this, when car numbers were swapped during a season. For example, Jackie Stewart retired after 1973 but Ronnie Peterson had #1 since Lotus was WCC the year before.
-Yes, it was always like that, at least temporarily in the 50s and 60s.
-I answer this out of pure logic, but I believe they would have reverted to #1-#2, since Prost was the reigning champion.

As regards the second question, Phoenix, that would not have been the case in the '50s and '60s. In those days, numbers were allocated randomly on a race-by-race basis, so that the number 1 would have no significance at all and could have been allocated to anybody.

dr-baker, it wasn't entirely random, it was related to the order of registration of the entry with the race organiser.

[dr-baker]

As I have studied the way cars are and used to be numbered, I have some questions.

- Would 0 & 2 be given to the team winning the WCC if the WDC retired?
- In the old system, if a champion switched teams, would 1 & 2 go with him?
- Similarly, if in 94, Prost had returned to replace Senna, would Williams have ended with 1 & 2, 0 & 2 or even 0 & 1?

Hi, Andrelious, and welcome to F1 Rejects!

Let's get to work:
-Yes, if a reigning World Champion retires next season, no one has the right to get #1. Case in point: Williams in 1993 and 1994, when Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost retired. However, I believe it wasn't always like this, when car numbers were swapped during a season. For example, Jackie Stewart retired after 1973 but Ronnie Peterson had #1 since Lotus was WCC the year before.
-Yes, it was always like that, at least temporarily in the 50s and 60s.
-I answer this out of pure logic, but I believe they would have reverted to #1-#2, since Prost was the reigning champion.

As regards the second question, Phoenix, that would not have been the case in the '50s and '60s. In those days, numbers were allocated randomly on a race-by-race basis, so that the number 1 would have no significance at all and could have been allocated to anybody.

dr-baker, it wasn't entirely random, it was related to the order of registration of the entry with the race organiser.

Thanks Faustus. Obviously, unless you knew this, then it did seem random. And I did know it at one point, but had forgotten.

[Faustus]

dr-baker, it wasn't entirely random, it was related to the order of registration of the entry with the race organiser.

Thanks Faustus. Obviously, unless you knew this, then it did seem random. And I did know it at one point, but had forgotten.

We're both not getting any younger, are we?

[tommykl]

As I have studied the way cars are and used to be numbered, I have some questions.

- Would 0 & 2 be given to the team winning the WCC if the WDC retired?
- In the old system, if a champion switched teams, would 1 & 2 go with him?
- Similarly, if in 94, Prost had returned to replace Senna, would Williams have ended with 1 & 2, 0 & 2 or even 0 & 1?

Hi, Andrelious, and welcome to F1 Rejects!

Let's get to work:
-Yes, if a reigning World Champion retires next season, no one has the right to get #1. Case in point: Williams in 1993 and 1994, when Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost retired. However, I believe it wasn't always like this, when car numbers were swapped during a season. For example, Jackie Stewart retired after 1973 but Ronnie Peterson had #1 since Lotus was WCC the year before.
-Yes, it was always like that, at least temporarily in the 50s and 60s.
-I answer this out of pure logic, but I believe they would have reverted to #1-#2, since Prost was the reigning champion.

As regards the second question, Phoenix, that would not have been the case in the '50s and '60s. In those days, numbers were allocated randomly on a race-by-race basis, so that the number 1 would have no significance at all and could have been allocated to anybody.

dr-baker, it wasn't entirely random, it was related to the order of registration of the entry with the race organiser.

Not always. I believe the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix's numbers were determined by the alphabetical order of the team's nationalities. Also, I noticed a few races in the 1960's had number determined by the current championship standings.

[dr-baker]

dr-baker, it wasn't entirely random, it was related to the order of registration of the entry with the race organiser.

Thanks Faustus. Obviously, unless you knew this, then it did seem random. And I did know it at one point, but had forgotten.

We're both not getting any younger, are we?

Nobody is, sadly. Not even young wmetcalf68 is getting any younger...

[dinizintheoven]

-I answer this out of pure logic, but I believe they would have reverted to #1-#2, since Prost was the reigning champion.

I don't think so. I'm pretty sure that a team keeps the same numbers throughout all the season, even if the reigning champion comes back in the place of another driver.
And if the reigning champion is replaced by another driver, this one would have the number 1 anyway (I don't remember when it happened, but I think this really happened in the past).

John Watson, 1985 European Grand Prix, replaced Niki Lauda for that race and drove car 1.

[Wizzie]

-I answer this out of pure logic, but I believe they would have reverted to #1-#2, since Prost was the reigning champion.

I don't think so. I'm pretty sure that a team keeps the same numbers throughout all the season, even if the reigning champion comes back in the place of another driver.
And if the reigning champion is replaced by another driver, this one would have the number 1 anyway (I don't remember when it happened, but I think this really happened in the past).

John Watson, 1985 European Grand Prix, replaced Niki Lauda for that race and drove car 1.

Interestingly enough, that was the race where Watson became convinced that his career in F1 was over.

[Sunshine_Baby_[IT]]

We're both not getting any younger, are we?

Nobody is, sadly.

Only HWNSNBM gets younger.

[dr-baker]

We're both not getting any younger, are we?

Nobody is, sadly.

Only HWNSNBM gets younger.

HWNSNBM is outside of time and space - he gets neither older nor younger. Ferenc Szisz was a pseudonym because his name could not be mentioned.

[Sunshine_Baby_[IT]]

HWNSNBM is outside of time and space - he gets neither older nor younger. Ferenc Szisz was a pseudonym because his name could not be mentioned.

Oh, I understand...

[dr-baker]

Actually, it is embarrassing. I thought this was the "HWNSNBM Facts" thread when I posted that last comment. So I am going to copy and paste it over...