The numbers on the merchandise are bigger than the numbers on the cars.

Sauber has nr 26 and 27 in 2010

http://www.blick.ch/sport/formel1/die-saub...-sind-da-139275

The start numbers F1 2010, 26 race drivers and their teams, February 2nd 2010

1 Button (Gb) McLaren-Mercedes
2 Hamilton (Gb) McLaren-Mercedes

3 Schumacher (D) Mercedes
4 Rosberg (D) Mercedes

5 Vettel (D) Red Bull-Renault
6 Webber (Au) Red Bull-Renault

7 Massa (Br) Ferrari
8 Alonso (Sp) Ferrari

9 Barrichello (Br) Williams-Cosworth
10 Hülkenberg (D) Williams-Cosworth

11 Kubica (Po) Renault
12 Petrov (Russ) Renault

14 Sutil (D) Force India-Mercedes
15 Liuzzi (I) Force India-Mercedes

16 Buemi (Sz) Toro Rosso-Ferrari
17 Alguersuari (Sp) Toro Rosso-Ferrari

18 Trulli (I) Lotus-Cosworth
19 Kovalainen (Fi) Lotus-Cosworth

20 ? Campos-Cosworth ?
21 Senna (Br) Campos-Cosworth ?

22 Lopez (Arg) USF1-Cosworth ?
23 ? USF1-Cosworth ?

24 Glock (D) Virgin-Cosworth
25 Grassi (Br) Virgin-Cosworth

26 Kobayashi (Jap) Sauber-Ferrari
27 De la Rosa (Sp) Sauber-Ferrari

I just wish they actually display the car number on the vehicle. This seems to have been faded out over the last few seasons. FIA should enforce this.
Imagine having a Football match were the players kits have the numbers removed for extra sponsorship space.

quite. as has been (slightly) argued in this thread.....

I agree. One of the reason why I liked the Hondas in 2007 and 2008 - I think I was the only one who did - was because Button and Barrichello each carried very large numbers. Sure, it's taking a page from IndyCar's playbook, but it make the cars so much easier to identify at speed than a coloured camera mounting or driver's helmet. But no, the rear wing is valuable sponsor space, and we wouldn't want that to go to waste, would be? It won't be long until more teams start doing what Force India did last season and run cars without the numbers on them at all ...

Indeed. F1 seems a little unique in motorsports in it's shyness of displaying numbers. unless it's 1234 of course.

Sorry but this is my pet hate.

What annoys me most is that for years most cars have had plenty empty spaces on them, but they still paint the numbers as small as possible. The other thing is that the teams tend to avoid painting the numbers on the nosecones, presumably so they don't have to have spares for each driver. It's much harder to see the numbers on the top of the chassis behind the rear wheels. Brawn last year is a good example. They had nothing on the nose yet the numbers were halfway up.

So far at least McLaren have been making it fairly obvious this year.

Yes and yes. It's almost as if teams are embarrassed by numbers, as they betray a lack of sponsorship...and the Brawns could have had big numbers on the side as well. Look at Virgin, they could have big IRL-style rear wing numbers, or large numbers on the dorsal fin, or next to the VR logo. Instead they have something microscopic.

There is a number, it's just smaller than in previous years. I think there is a rule which states each car must have it's number somewhere visible, so there is definately a number on each car. Most teams put it on the nose, some on the front wing (Force India), some on the rear wing endplates (Honda), some on the sidepods or on the mirrors (Red Bull).

Talking of numbers:



That 24 is the only number on the car.

But Glocks race suit has the number 24 on the back. Perhaps, football style, all drivers should wear their numbers and surnames on the back of their race suit:



(image was made a while ago so is out of date)

Actually, it was not "random," simply that the organizing club or promoter assigned the race numbers for their event with little regards for any other event.

In 1964, there was an agreement among the British circuits owners and the fledgling F1CA to assign numbers to be used by the teams at each of the events run for Grand Prix machines in the UK. This is the genesis for how the race numbers for the teams finally settled down in the Seventies. It was an initiative of the F1CA/FOCA and not the CSI/FISA.

Postscript:
Here is what the F1CA and the organizers for the British events for GP/F1 machinery agreed to for the numbering system for their races at the beginning of that season:

Team Lotus
1 / Clark
2 / Arundell

Owen Racing Organisation
3 / Hill
4 / Ginther

Brabham Racing Organisation
5 / Brabham
6 / Gurney

SpA Ferrari SEFAC
7 / Surtees
8 / Bandini

Cooper Car Company
9 / McLaren
10 / Hill (replaced Meyer)

British Racing Partnership
11 / Ireland
12 / Taylor

Reg Parnell (Racing)
14 / Hailwood
15 / Amon

Scuderia Cetnro Sud
16 / Maggs (replaced Hill)
17 / Baghetti

Equipe Scirocco Belge
18 / Pilette

Ian Raby (Racing)
19 / Raby

DW Racing Enterprices
20 / Anderson

R.R.C. Walker Racing Team
21 / Bonnier

Needless to say, while those at the front used this numbering scheme for these events very consistently, at the rear of the grid there was a bit of shifting and sorting around.

When i came upon the above photo of No4 it got me looking around my books to work out F1 car numbers.
So in trying to find out were the Rindt picture was taken. I found in that very season 1969 photos in my books that the numbering system was still all over the place even after they had agreed to clean up their act way back in 1964 as Don Capps has said.

Examples. 1969

Rindt.. No2 - No4 .
Stewart ..No2 -No3- No7-No17.
McLaren..No4- No 6 .
Hulme.. No4- No5 .
Ickx ...No6- No11.
Brabham...No4.

And that was just some of them in that year. Was it really that hard to organize .

Keep in mind that up until the early-'70s the entry lists were wildly inconsistent, with works teams (at least through the '60s) running varying quantities of cars from one race to the next, privateers showing up only at selected races, and countless one-off home-race entries.

I relies that point thanks Rob G. And i would expect the backmarker teams to change regular however the Tyrrell team had Stewart with numbers

..No2 -No3- No7-No17. very strange .

Cars are supposed to be indentifiable (by means of a clear number) so marshals and their observers can report incidents to race control properly. Practically every other series on earth has a big black number on a white background (or the obverse for some colours of bodywork) or a number & name on a window (WRC for example), but F1 doesn't.

Hell, NASCAR make an even bigger thing of the number - you could argue there that the numbers are "bigger" in publicity terms than most of the drivers!

I guess the FIA make it "easy" by us knowing which is no 1 driver and which is no 2, and which one of the pair has the yellow and the red camera mount. I guess at McLaren this year they'll both be stripy then!

Well said i could not agree more ,they would not know their left from their right .

Great posts on historic car numbering guys. Very interesting. Say do any of you know why back in the early days most European races only used even numbers? It's something that I noticed when I was looking through some old results.

Ridiculous. They've got all that space for the silly swirls, but not for a number. If they had so many sponsors logos on the car that they didn't have room, I'd be more understanding.

So Pedro de la Rosa gets the beloved 27...

I wouldn't be so sure. We haven't had an official confirmation of the numbers - I'm expecting that to come with this week's entry list - so I suspect the FIA is waiting to see what happens with the new teams. If USF1 fail to show, Sauber will likely get the 22 and 23. unless, of course, Stefan buy USF1's entry outright or manage to merge with them, in which case Sauber will retain the 26 and 27.

You need a pair of binoculars to fine them.and that is when they are stopped in pit lane? let alone out on the track.

What I provided were the numbers to be used for one season only, 1964, and only in those events held in Britain. These numbers were the result of discussions between the newly-formed Formula 1 Constructors Association and the organizing clubs in the UK.

Until the Seventies, the numbering of the race entries was entirely at the discretion of the organizing clubs. It was only as a result of the F1CA taking a larger role in things that the numbering became standardized. As someone who literally grew up under the numbers changing each race I fail to see the angst associated with the car numbering business. Indeed, to some it was seen as the first sign of the Apocalypse....

Who uses numbers to identify cars, anyway? Most teams don't even bother with putting them on the rear wing; most opt for one on the nosecone and that's about it. Red Bull and Toro Rosso put them on the vertical upright near the wing mirror, but we haven't seen a team carry large numbers since Honda. I reckon it should be in the rules that they have to carry a number large enough to be identified to make it easier to pick who is who.

From what I understand, that actually is in the rules. The article says something about number sizes on a small-screen TV, but I reckon no-one's bothered to test that, of late.

Sooooooo true in F1 you just do what you want and get away with it .Most of the time.

It's not like they're blatantly exploiting the aerodynamic regulations.