Formula One’s governing body, the FIA, published the 2014 entry list for the upcoming season of racing. The list confirmed every driver announced so far, along with their chosen personal race number’s following a rule change for this season.
The entry list also confirmed that Max Chilton would be driving for Marussia, a day before the official announcement by the team.
Each driver was invited by the FIA to state his preferred race number, with the driver who finished higher in the 2013 standings being favored if the same number was requested more than once. The only drivers to have not had their number confirmed are Max Chilton and the Caterham drivers (as they have not been confirmed yet.)
It is important to note that Sebastian Vettel has two race numbers, as he will use #1 this season as he is the champion, but will use the #5 if/when he is not the champion. This is the number that he won his first championship with in 2010 and the number he used in Karting.
Here is the full entry list with the driver’s race numbers also listed:
| Race # | Driver | NAT | Team | Engine |
| 1 & 5 | Sebastian Vettel | DEU | Infiniti Red Bull Racing | Renault |
| 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | AUS | Infiniti Red Bull Racing | Renault |
| 44 | Lewis Hamilton | GBR | Mercedes GP Petronas F1 | Mercedes |
| 6 | Nico Rosberg | DEU | Mercedes GP Petronas F1 | Mercedes |
| 14 | Fernando Alonso | ESP | Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari |
| 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | FIN | Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari |
| 8 | Romain Grosjean | FRA | Lotus F1 Team | Renault |
| 13 | Pastor Maldonado | VEN | Lotus F1 Team | Renault |
| 22 | Jenson Button | GBR | McLaren Mercedes | Mercedes |
| 20 | Kevin Magnussen | DEN | McLaren Mercedes | Mercedes |
| 27 | Nico Hulkenburg | DEU | Sahara Force India F1 Team | Mercedes |
| 11 | Sergio Perez | MEX | Sahara Force India F1 Team | Mercedes |
| 99 | Adrian Sutil | DEU | Sauber F1 Team | Ferrari |
| 21 | Esteban Gutierrez | MEX | Sauber F1 Team | Ferrari |
| 25 | Jean-Eric Vergne | FRA | Scuderia Toro Rosso | Renault |
| 26 | Daniil Kvyat | RUS | Scuderia Toro Rosso | Renault |
| 19 | Felipe Massa | BRA | Williams Team F1 | Mercedes |
| 77 | Valtteri Bottas | FIN | Williams Team F1 | Mercedes |
| 17 | Jules Bianchi | FRA | Marussia F1 Team | Ferrari |
| TBA | Max Chilton | GBR | Marussia F1 Team | Ferrari |
| TBA | TBA | TBA | Caterham F1 Team | Renault |
| TBA | TBA | TBA | Caterham F1 Team | Renault |
Several drivers have spoken about the reasons why they chose the numbers that they did.
A number of drivers picked their numbers based on the fact that they had used it in the early days of their racing careers. Fernando Alonso is one of them, who picked the #14 after winning the world karting championship with that number when he was 14 years old on the 14th day of that month. Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton also picked numbers based on Karting.
Nico Rosberg picked #6 based on the fact that his father used that number on his way to the 1982 F1 championship. Jenson Button picked #22 as that was the number that he won his F1 title with in 2009. It is unknown as to why Pastor Maldonado chose #13, a number previously unused in Formula One for superstitious reasons, but he and the other drivers on the grid will be hoping it isn’t an omen.
Kimi Raikkonen also had a reason for picking #7. He said that it is the number he raced with last season and he saw no need to change it.
By Jordan Groves Formula 1 correspondent for RTR Sports Marketing Follow Jordan on twitter at www.twitter.com/jgroves1996
