F1 DRIVERS EXPLAIN THE MEANING OF THEIR RACE NUMBERS

Here is the meaning behind 2021s F1 drivers' race numbers.

The FIA states that every driver needs to have a number associated with them in order for both the car and driver to be identified while racing.

Back in the day, F1 drivers had racing numbers chosen for them, but that was dropped a couple of years ago. New drivers are now allowed to choose an available number from 0 to 99.

Here are the personal reasons why F1 drivers chose their specific numbers:

Lewis Hamilton: When Lewis was 8-years-old, his father bought him an old used go-kart and, when the time came to choose a number, his father didn't know which number to use. The number on the number plate of his car was F44, and so he chose 44.

Sebastian Vettel: Vettel explains that he has a very successful year in 2001 in the karting championship, he had number 5 on his go-kart, and that number stayed true to him.

Lance Stroll: Number 18 is very important to him, Stroll explains, winning the Formula 3 and Formula 4 championships all with the same number.

Sergio Perez: Perez explains that his favourite football player was also number 11 and, because of that he too wanted the same number. Even his personal email address starts with the number 11.

Yuki Tsunoda: The first number he used in karting was number 11, but unfortunately 11 was already taken in Formula 1, so he decided to double up to 22.

Daniel Ricciardo: When he started karting, the number 3 was assigned to him as, back then, they couldn't choose one for themselves. He became fond of number 3, and has stuck with it ever since.

Max Verstappen: In a rivalry with Ricciardo once again, his number of choice would have been 3 as well, but that was already taken by Daniel, so he thought he'd double up on his luck by changing it to 33.

Charles Leclerc: Number 7 was his first choice but, unfortunately, it was taken, so Leclerc settled for number 16 as 1 plus 6 is 7.

Lando Norris: He has been through so many numbers already that it actually means nothing to him, he settled for number 4 as it fits perfectly into his logo.

Carlos Sainz: Carlos cleverly chose the number 55 as the last letter of his first name is an S and the first letter of his last name is also S. Put them together and it's SS, which is visually similar to 55.

Kimi Raikkonen: He explains that he needed to choose a number so he chose a number...and that's it!

Antonio Giovinazzi: Antonio explains that he had a choice between number 13, 17 and 99, so he chose the luckiest one according to him, number 99.

Esteban Ocon: In 2007, he won the karting championship with the number 31, and has always associated number 31 with that incredible time in his life.

Nikita Mazepin: Nikita was born in 1999, and always wanted number 99 to be his race number. Unfortunately it was already taken, so he settled for number 9, which he is proud of.

Pierre Gasly: He won the Formula Renault Euro Championship with number 10, so he kept it.

Mick Schumacher: This is the first time he has used that number, but it was cleverly chosen by him. Number 47's meaning is that, the number 4 is "For" and 7 is the number of letters in his father's first name: For Michael.

Nicholas Latifi: Latifi explains that number 6 represents his home town of Toronto and it makes him proud to represent the place where he grew up.

George Russel: His older brother started karting at a local indoor track and always had the number 63, George then used that number throughout his career.

Valtteri Bottas: He explains that he always liked the number 7, and it's because of nothing superstitious. At the last-minute, he changed it to number 77, just in case he wanted to use it in his logo, where the "TT" in Bottas could maybe be replaced with "77", but has yet to do it.

Fernando Alonso: When he was 14-years-old, on the 14th of July, in car number 14, he was world champion. He, of course, kept it.

Take a look at the video here by YouTube channel, Formula 1, on F1 Drivers Explain Why They Race With Their Numbers.

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