Oliver WhiteYesterday the FIA confirmed the teams and their drivers who have officially entered the 2009 Formula One World Championship. There are no surprises and three seats are yet to be filled. The FIA included Honda in the list because although the team has withdrawn from the sport, they have not yet withdrawn their entry from the championship. This means that someone can buy the squad and still compete in 2009. Although Honda have said they will withdraw completely if a buyer is not found in time. Also, the second Scuderia Toro Rosso seat remains vacant still.
Once again, Formula One continues its policy of not running the number 13, Red Bull Racing instead using 14 for Mark Webber. Given the Australian’s luck this off season, this is perhaps a wise move. Lewis Hamilton will carry the number 1 on the front of his McLaren, and Force India will carry 20 and 21, the last two numbers.
The numbers are decided by the position of the team in the previous years constructors title, with the exception of the drivers champion who carries number 1, his team mate number 2. The numbers then run down the order, jumping from 12 to 14. There were a few exceptions in previous years, such as Ferrari being able to use 27 and 28. However, these exceptions are largely ignored by teams these days and drivers are generally happy with the numbers they get.
Number |
Driver |
Team |
Engine |
| 1. |  Lewis Hamilton |
McLaren | Mercedes |
| 2. |  Heikki Kovalainen |
McLaren | Mercedes |
| 3. | Kimi Raikkonen |
Ferrari | |
| 4. |  Felipe Massa |
Ferrari | |
| 5. |  Nick Heidfeld |
BMW | |
| 6. |  Robert Kubica |
BMW | |
| 7. |  Fernando Alonso |
Renault | |
| 8. | Nelson Piquet Jr. |
Renault | |
| 9. |  Jarno Trulli |
Toyota | |
| 10. | Timo Glock |
Toyota | |
| 11. |  Sebastien Buemi |
Scuderia Toro Rosso | Ferrari |
| 12. |  TBA |
Scuderia Toro Rosso | Ferrari |
| 14. |  Mark Webber |
Red Bull Racing | Renault |
| 15. | Sebastian Vettel |
Red Bull Racing | Renault |
| 16. | Nico Rosberg |
Williams | Toyota |
| 17. |  Kazuki Nakajima |
Williams | Toyota |
| 18. | TBA |
Honda | TBA |
| 19. | TBA |
Honda | TBA |
| 20. | Adrian Sutil |
Force India | Mercedes |
| 21. | Giancarlo Fisichella |
Force India | Mercedes |
Hey Ollie, two things. One: Your table’s headings are screwed and two: why does Kimi Raikkonen have the number 3 with him? Shouldn’t he have number 4? Considering he finished behind Massa in the World Championship?
Heh, that’ll teach me to write late at night! I’ll fix them in a moment.
That’s a good point.
I think it’s one of the exceptions that the teams do still use. If the drivers of a team remain from one year to the next, they keep the numbers from previous, even if the results suggest otherwise. Last year, Coulthard had a higher number than Webber, but as Coulthard has now retired from racing, Webber moves up and Vettel gets the lower number in the team. But the Ferrari drivers are unchanged, so they keep their numbers. Well, it saves on redesigning the pit garage hoardings! 🙂
I know you read James Allen’s blog and this is what I found in response to what I’d asked: http://allenonf1.wordpress.com/2009/01/12/ferrari-emphasize-the-old-while-unveiling-the-new/2/
Tip: Read the comments. 😛
…which say Felipe Massa will be number three. He did carry the number 3 on his car when he completed an installation at Mugello. At the end of the day, I also agree with the commenter on Allen’s site who says “it doesn’t really matter” because I certainly don’t identify the driver by the number. Helmet and T-Cam colour are the giveaways for me.
For the record though, here is F1.com’s entry list, which at the time of writing this states Kimi Raikkonen as number 3.