01/03/2015
NEWS STORY
World champion Lewis Hamilton has revealed why he opted to keep the race number 44 rather than sport the traditional number 1.
One of the less publicised new rules in 2014 saw the introduction of permanent race numbers, whereby F1 drivers now have a number, chosen by them, for the length of their entire career (in F1).
Though (2013 champion) Sebastian Vettel chose the number 5, he raced with the world champion's number 1 on his car. However, 2014 champ Hamilton has opted to stick with his permanent number 44.
"Everyone can use number one when they win the championship but it's irrelevant for me," the Mercedes driver told reporters at the Circuit de Catalunya having concluded his pre-season preparations.
"Forty four means more to me than number one," he insisted. "It doesn't mean I'm not number one. 44 is my family number. It's the number I had when I first started racing. I won my first championship with 44. It means something to me.
"The number one itself, Vettel's had it, Schumacher's had it, all the champions have had it. None of them had 44. 44 is mine."
Numerologists regard the number 44 as a magical number, the number of efficiency, focus, discipline, confidence, conscientiousness and wholeness, it is regarded by some as an 'angel number'.
Negative traits however, include, poorly proactive, greed, resistant to change, Machiavellic, cynicism, non-interactive, indifferent and power-hungry.
Numerologists also point out that the number 44 can be reduced to a single digit... 4 + 4 = 8.
8, of course, being Romain Grosjean's number.