The F1 2025 grid will see the return of two recent World Champion’s driver numbers, but is it a little too soon to do so?

The publishing of the F1 2025 entry list shows two of the rookie drivers for next season have opted for driver numbers most recently used by beloved World Champions.

Which driver numbers have been snaffled up?

Permanent F1 driver numbers were introduced for the 2014 season, with drivers being given the option to choose a number between 2 and 99 with which they will race the entirety of their F1 careers.

These numbers are taken by a driver until they are out of the sport for two consecutive full seasons, at which point new drivers can take over that number.

With the number 1 reserved for the discretion of the reigning World Champion, the decade since the rule’s introduction has seen drivers establish legacies and branding around their numbers, to the point where the numbers are fully synonymous with the identity of those drivers.

But two of the upcoming rookies are taking over numbers most recently used by World Champion drivers – Brazilian driver Gabriel Bortoleto has chosen the number ‘5’, as was most recently used by Sebastian Vettel in 2022. After the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi, Vettel has sat out two full seasons, meaning Bortoleto has taken the number the instant it became available for use once again.

Jack Doohan, having raced with a temporary number for his one-off race with Alpine in Abu Dhabi, will take on the number ‘7’, which Kimi Raikkonen used until the end of 2021 before walking away from the sport after 20 years.

Doohan has indicated his desire to use number 7 does have connections to Raikkonen, having raced with the number in 2019 and ’20 – first with Raikkonen’s Double R team in Euroformula Open in 2019, and in ’20 with Pinnacle Motorsport in F3 Asia en route to the runner-up position.

“I really wanted to go with a number that I raced with before, something that had meaning for me,” Doohan said in November.

“Also one of my idols, a super special person and driver, Kimi Raikkonen, drove with that number.

“I’m really looking forward to continuing it on and make it my own and getting some luck from number seven.”

It’s not the first time an F1 World Champion’s number has been re-used – Nico Rosberg’s number 6 came up for grabs after the F1 2018 season, with Nicholas Latifi taking over the number in 2020.

But should the rules be tweaked slightly in order to give World Champion numbers a little more gravitas, and to allow the association with the number to linger for longer?

Why F1 World Champion driver numbers should be withdrawn for longer

After all, heritage and branding are part of being a modern-day Formula 1 driver and, while Kimi Raikkonen’s number 7 probably won’t be used by the Finn again in Formula 1, the possibility of an eventual return for Vettel – however unlikely that may be – means his number 5 still has value for him.

However, the SV5 branding he used throughout his long Ferrari career, and later Aston Martin, is no longer available to him. If Vettel were to make a comeback, he would have to pick a new number – defeating the purpose of the FIA seeking to have a number associated with a driver for their entire career.

A two or three-year sabbatical isn’t even all that unusual on the grid nowadays – Raikkonen himself was one of the drivers to leave the sport for two consecutive years after 2009, while Fernando Alonso’s number 14 came up for grabs right as he decided to make his return to the grid in 2021.

Nico Hulkenberg, aside from reserve driver appearances which kept his number alive, was also missing from the grid for three years.

There’s also the fact that the numbers, by being associated with drivers of success, take on an emotional element for upcoming drivers who have watched their heroes race with those numbers. Would Doohan have chosen the number 7 if not for Raikkonen, or would Bortoleto have chosen the number 5 without Vettel using it?

The most obvious example on the grid right now is Lewis Hamilton, who has become utterly synonymous with the number 44. It has become part of his entire F1 identity and brand and yet, if he walked away right now, another driver could be using it in 2027. It seems trite right now, but imagine a returning World Champion of Hamilton’s calibre being unable to use their number due to a fresh-faced rookie having snapped it up so quickly.

It seems too soon, and does a disservice to upcoming drivers who are thus spoiling their chances of being synonymous with a number in their own right by dint of choosing numbers used by the likes of Hamilton, Vettel, and Raikkonen, etc.

A suggestion could thus be to lock away numbers, particularly those of F1 World Champions, for longer. For instance, a three-year absence is probably enough to suggest an F1 career is fully over, save for all but the most exceptional circumstances. But, for the World Champions, whose legacy is more firmly cemented into the sport’s tapestry, perhaps the rule should be made a five-year absence.

This would mean the number becomes intrinsically linked with that World Champion until the era in which they raced has well and truly passed, and allows them to cement their branding for longer after leaving the sport. By the time their number becomes available again, the sport really has moved on, and it no longer seems strange for a newcomer to be racing with the number of a driver with such success.

Of course, many will argue that “It’s just a number” and that such things don’t matter. But, as the FIA showed by withdrawing the late Jules Bianchi’s number from selection following his premature death in 2015, such connotations do matter when it comes to showing respect to the drivers.

If this move, which was greeted with unanimous approval on the grounds of that respect being shown, hadn’t been made, Bianchi’s number would likely have been chosen at some point over the last nine years.

Once upon a time, the numbers were largely irrelevant and down to circumstances rather than choice, but, nowadays, the drivers are making that choice – it is something more personal to them. Letting that history breathe and settle for just a little longer simply pays tribute to the legacy they leave behind after the chequered flag falls on their career.

Read Next: Vettel and Raikkonen numbers taken over in F1 2025 entry list confirmation