{"id":71079,"date":"2025-08-16T11:12:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T11:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/71079\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T11:12:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T11:12:08","slug":"the-one-number-f1-drivers-are-banned-from-choosing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/71079\/","title":{"rendered":"The one number F1 drivers are banned from choosing"},"content":{"rendered":"

F1 drivers become inseparable from their driver numbers over the course of their career. Lewis Hamilton<\/a> and 44. Max Verstappen<\/a> and the number one. <\/p>\n

\nHowever, there is one driver number that F1 stars cannot choose, with the number 17 retired following the death of Jules Bianchi<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\nThe French racing driver competed in F1 from 2013 until 2014 with Marussia under the number 17, but lost his life after he collided with a recovery vehicle at the Japanese Grand Prix, passing away nine months later. <\/p>\n

\nFollowing Bianchi\u2019s death, the number 17 was retired from F1 by the FIA out of respect for the racing driver. <\/p>\n

Who was Jules Bianchi?
\nJules Bianchi raced in F1 from 2013 until 2014 <\/p>\n

\nBianchi was a French racing driver born in Nice, and was also the godfather of current F1 driver and Ferrari<\/a> star Charles Leclerc<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\nDuring his early career, Bianchi became one of the first drivers to sign with the Ferrari Driver Academy, before earning his first full-time F1 drive at Marussia in 2013. <\/p>\n

\nBianchi\u2019s best F1 finish was P9 at the 2014 Monaco GP, which earned him plaudits and congratulations from the F1 paddock. <\/p>\n

\nThe result was monumental for the Marussia team at the time, marking their first ever points finish in F1, and what would also be their last points ever in the sport. <\/p>\n

\nBianchi was placed into an induced coma after his accident at the Japanese GP later that year, and passed away nine months later in July 2015. <\/p>\n

\nThe FIA introduced safety reforms to F1, prompted by Bianchi\u2019s death, and mandated the halo cockpit protection device which protects a driver\u2019s head from sustaining serious trauma. <\/p>\n

\nFurthermore, the virtual safety car was also introduced to F1 in 2015, slowing cars down to a controlled speed and reducing the risk of an accident in dangerous conditions. <\/p>\n

\nSafety measures<\/a> brought in after Bianchi\u2019s passing have been credited with saving other drivers\u2019 lives, from Romain Grosjean\u2019s crash at the 2020 Bahrain GP and Zhou Guanyu\u2019s Silverstone accident in 2022. <\/p>\n

\nF1 HEADLINES: Christian Horner ‘set’ for Sergio Perez reunion as shock team told to sign axed star<\/a> <\/p>\n

\nREAD MORE: Lewis Hamilton facing impossible Mercedes-Ferrari decision<\/a> <\/p>\n

\nREAD MORE: F1 drivers age: How old are Lewis Hamilton, Verstappen, Norris and co?<\/a> <\/p>\n

\nREAD MORE: F1 2025 driver lineup: Big names on the move as full grid complete<\/a><\/p>\n

Related\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"F1 drivers become inseparable from their driver numbers over the course of their career. Lewis Hamilton and 44.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[1665,1687,36752,8097,372,6537,6868,10919,832,3006,50,6867,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-71079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-f1","tag-charles-leclerc","tag-f1","tag-f1-explained","tag-fia","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-gpfans","tag-japanese-grand-prix","tag-lewis-hamilton","tag-max-verstappen","tag-news","tag-sheona-mountford","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}