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Hamilton ran #1 despite disliking it

19:00, 23 Nov 2018

byBobby Vincent

World champion Lewis Hamilton has explained his decision to run the number one on his Mercedes car in Abu Dhabi FP1, despite him openly disliking it.

Formula One's rules were changed in 2014, allowing drivers to change their race numbers - but Hamilton has elected not to use the number one in any of his seasons, following a world championship win.

Hamilton was allowed to use the #1 as a one-off in FP1 in Abu Dhabi, before switching to his original #44 for the second free practice session.

"I personally don't like it, I don't like it at all," Hamilton said to Motorsport.com on Friday evening. "It was just for one session, it doesn't really mean anything.

"The reason I did it because I've been here for six years and since we've been world champions (in 2014, '15, '17, '18) we've never had the number one on the car and I thought it would just be cool.

"I remember when McLaren had number one, when Jenson (Button) won the world title and he moved (from Brawn) and brought it with him. It's strange that McLaren could then have number one - the next team can, wherever you go."

Hamilton went on to explain that part of his decision was down to him wanting to do it for his Mercedes engineers.

"I remember the engineers, or the mechanics, asking me at one stage would I ever do it," he added. "I thought it would be cool to just have it on the car for one session so at least they will have a picture somewhere that they can be really proud of that we were number one.

"44 is my special number, and in actual fact everyone in the team or on my car particularly were saying to me that when they are travelling they'll see a bus number 44 and then they will see a flight or a seat number 44."