What happened to numbers on F1 cars?

"fans" know who their guy is

 

The numbers are small and hard to read.

Best way to follow someone is know what color their T-bar above the drivers head is.

Or know what their helmet looks like. This one helped me distinguish between Alonso and Massa instantly at the 2012 USGP

 

That imo is the easiest way to ID the car from any angle...even from behind or rear quarter view when you can't see the helmet. The team #1 driver has a black bar and #2 neon yellow.

 

The T-bar and drivers gloves.

I've only been watching f1 regularly for a few years but I've never looked for numbers.

 

Yeah, no point in looking for numbers. I think there's only 1 on the car, on the nose, and the rest of the car is covered in advertisements. I don't see the cars using the sidepod for drivers' names like McLaren would do in testing (with Kimi written on the side) or putting a number on the side of the rear wing like they used to.

 

yes helmets make it easy to pick out the drivers since cars look the same..esp last season,i know who was leading most of the time with even looking

 

Well, Lotus painted a huge red "Romain" and "Kimi" on the sides of the air intakes for 2013. And for a couple of races there was a huge "Heikki" on one of them

Possibly only due to lack of sponsorship to fill said space, but still it made the cars recognizable. So it can be done.

 

True. Apparently this year they will have both written Maldonado on them.

 

The numbers have been small for over 20 years and everyone has managed. I see no reason to change simply because there is now an American venue.

Everyone has always done fine identifying most relevant drivers by the helmets or, as said, the T camera bar thing color (personally I've always used the helmets as I find it easier).

This was mostly done starting at races where Tobacco advertising was banned and they wrote Mika or David on the side. When it was permabanned and they had no replacement sponsor yet (but still driving in the West colours) they wrote the names on.

 

Like most people I never look for numbers on the cars. I tend to go by the drivers helmet. That was easier in the days when a driver would keep the same helmet design for more than a couple of months. Now they seem to all be in a competition to see who can wear the largest number of designs in a season or even a weekend! Now the drivers have permanent numbers the FIA should also rule on the size and placing of the numbers on the cars. Last year there was a guy on Twitter who set himself the challenge of finding the car numbers on all the cars on the grid. It took him 2 weeks to find the number on the Force India. It was in between the 2 uprights holding the front wing onto the nose. It would be impossible to see the number unless you crouched down in front of the car!
I think that giving the drivers permanent numbers is a good idea that should have been introduced years ago. I mean in MotoGP it works. If I see a car or bike with a yellow 46 sticker on it I don't need any more information to know that the driver is a Valentino Rossi fan.
It's great that we now have the numbers. They should now make them visible.

 

Do those people that sit in the stands watch any races before hand? Or is it a case of ''hey, lets go to this Formula 1 thing.'' ''Say, that's a great idea''.

Then they get the little leaflet and list of driver numbers, and no one can make out dick.

What I have realized the few times I've tried to watch NASCAR etc they rarely actually call the driver's name who is overtaking, but almost always by his racing number ''The number 44 car is overtaking the number 29 car, who has made a horrible mistake and appears to have turned right in a terrible confusion, and has now taken out the ex formula 1 driver number 84! Definitely a case of full course caution, here. Back to you, Bob''.

Perhaps for Americans drivers (and other sports?) more often associate them with numbers. Just different ways of watching I suppose.

I've been to F1 races/testing too and I've never heard anyone complain. Not once. Sometimes you hear ''was that Kimi or Massa? I didn't check for the helmet''.

IMO it's a non issue, and anyone interested enough in the sport should quite quickly understand who has what basic colour helmet in which team.

 

You make a very valid point. I had some friends go to Austin in '12 and they were so confused on Friday evening they called me to ask, basically, WTF?..... They're big Nascar fans, so very much associate drivers with numbers. I gave them the 'T bar trick' and that helped, but maybe permanent numbers is a good idea too.

Cheers,
Ian

 

I hear you, but with all due respect here Bas, you're sounding a little like the archetypal F1 'snob'! 'we don't need no stinkin' numbers!' 'You're not a real fan unless you recognize their helmets' etc. But it's not good for the casual fan and/or newbies.

I'm no Nascar fan, but even I know Jeff is 24 for example......

Cheers,
Ian

 

I don't know why, but I find chatter hinged solely on the car's number laughable . . . especially as used in NASCAR. I also never much cared for describing Mansell's Williams as
"Red 5"

The only number that matters, and should matter in F1, IMHO, is number 1

 

Geeze, how hard would it be to have a tip or two in the program, or the team sponsors advertise "Hey fans, welcome to today's race, look for Lewis in the Mercedes Petronas wearing his trademark yellowish helmet today, and if you're color blind look for the #6 car"!

 

Or, 'hey fans, be careful you don't confuse Lewis & Nico because they both wear yellowish helmets! Good luck telling them apart!'

Cheers,
Ian

 

LOL, immediately my thought!!

As been said before, the T cams also have colours. MUCH easier to see than trying to find a number, even if it is painted over the whole side of the car IMO.

 

What difference do the numbers make when they're too small to see?