Why is the Driver No.15 always ignored?

[Martínez]

Apologies for such a strange question but stuff like this intrigues me.

Hello by the way, new to the forum (waves!)

As per title, is the number 15 considered bad luck due to a historic crash? I can’t find any information on Google.

 

[F1Brits_90]

Apologies for such a strange question but stuff like this intrigues me.

Hello by the way, new to the forum (waves!)

As per title, is the number 15 considered bad luck due to a historic crash? I can’t find any information on Google.

hello

do you mean 13 or 15. because 13 is considered very unlucky in motorsport. paster Maldonado season with 13 was proof of that. but ill have to do some research on 15. as i think its hasnt been used since it was given to sutil in 2013 as force india had come 7th in previous yrs constructors

 

[Martínez]

hello

do you mean 13 or 15. because 13 is considered very unlucky in motorsport. paster Maldonado season with 13 was proof of that. but ill have to do some research on 15. as i think its hasnt been used since it was given to sutil in 2013 as force india had come 7th in previous yrs constructors

Thank you, appreciate the reply.

Yes 13 is universally considered unlucky, I just wondered why all of these new drivers we’ve had in recent times have not chose 15. I know some people associate 12 with Senna, but even Felipe Nasr has used that.

But 15 always gets swerved (pun intended!)

It’s quite unusual - I’m thinking about this too much I guess!

 

[Bleu]

To be honest, I expected Logan Sargeant to pick 15 as his racing number. After all he had that kind of logo in his junior classes.

Now he has the racing number being put inside the LS.

 

[F1Brits_90]

you know i was just looking at it & 15 is rarely used. all i can find since 2014 is a moto gp rider who had 1 podium in 61 races & graham rahal who has just failed to qualifying for the indy 500

so its hardly a lucky numbet

 

[Martínez]

you know i was just looking at it & 15 is rarely used. all i can find since 2014 is a moto gp rider who had 1 podium in 61 races & graham rahal who has just failed to qualifying for the indy 500

so its hardly a lucky numbet

Thanks for looking.

It’s strange isn’t it? For example, when I play the F1 games on PC, the 15 is always available and I always choose it when 7 isn’t up for grabs.

Drivers seem to love going for the crazy high numbers which are doubled eg. 44, 33, 77 etc.

 

[FB]

For those into this sort of thing, here are all the numbers used by different teams from 1974 (when numbers were given out for a whole season) through to the "branding" nonsense we currently have to put up with. Car number

I didn't realise the No. 17 had been retired since the death of Jules Bianchi. It's just as well this tradition hasn't always been followed in F1 as we probably wouldn't have any number left now.

 

[The Artist.....]

In the 80s and 90s, car number 15 was ubiquitous, and ran in most seasons. There was No car 13, but the teams lined up witih

• 1,2
• 3,4
• 5,6
• 7,8
• 9,10
• 11,12
• 14,15
• 16,17
• 19,20
• …

so 13 and 18 were missing. In some seasons, the odd numbering was sorted by one car teams (e.g. in 1991, Fondmetal ran with one car as, I think, 14)