Please explain why the numbers on F1 cars are so small?

It's probably due to F1 cars preferring to use the sticker space for advertising. However, even the small teams without much sponsors don't use a big number. According to the FIA rules, the number has to be visible (no matter how small as long as it's there) and it can be anywhere. This rule isn't very clear though; last season Force India stuck their numbers in the area where the front spoiler connects with the nose (making it really hard to see) but that was still legal. Another rule states that that antenna on top of the drivers' heads has to be a different colour according to the team-member: The number 1 driver's has to be fluorescent yellow while the number two driver has to have it orange (still very hard to see plus it's mostly unknown which colour belongs to which driver).

Other reasons why F1 numbers are different than other racing series numbers:

- In NASCAR and MotoGP, a driver's number is his brand. He keeps it with him for almost his entire career so it becomes a symbol for that particular driver (example Valentino Rossi's #46). In F1, since they change every year according to last year's results, the drivers don't have this.

- In Le Mans there are often three or four cars with the exact same livery and each having three different drivers, thus the number is the only way to recognize which car it is.

- Most series (DTM, Le Mans, Rally, etc) have a standard numbering system where all the numbers have the same font, size, colour and location. F1 lacks this standardization unfortunately.

Hope this helps :)

F1 Driver Numbers

Almost Enlightened, you have lived up to your name, since you've almost got it; it IS business to be sure. F1 cars, unlike NASCAR, DTM, and other boxcar series, don't have bonnets that you can place advertising on. Every square inch of a F1 car must then be used, to the extent the rules allow, for advertising. Larger #'s fewer adverts possible. No prizes for figuring out what the F1 teams would prefer.

A big number paint job wouldn't fit the car body based on its design. It seems that the paint job stands in for the car numbers, at least when the car is in racing motion. The numbers wouldn't be that visible when the cars are racing because of the overall geometry of the cars. It's only red and yellow, anyway.

I have no idea. It makes me mad though because I always get confused between the Red Bull cars. Oh well. Maybe it will be better when we get to see them in real life here in the States >:D

Nobody said it had to be stickers. What about paint?

Less stickers = more speed, in F1, 0.0.0.0000000.0.0.1 of 0.0.0.000001 MPH is serious business