20/01/2020
NEWS STORY
Williams driver, Nicholas Latifi has revealed that his race number in F1 will be 6, the number previously used by Nico Rosberg.
The decision to use the number has nothing to do with the 2016 world champion but rather its association with Latifi's home city of Toronto.
"Toronto is widely referred to as 'The 6'," said Latifi, according to Motorsport Week, "which is partly down to Drake, who's also from Toronto.
"He mentions the name in one of his early songs," he said of the Canadian rapper, "and one of his albums was originally called 'Views from the 6'.
"Other 6 links are that Toronto was one divided into six districts," adds Latifi, "and that the two telephone area codes for Toronto start or finish with a six. For all these reasons the name has just stuck; anyone who's from North America knows what 'The 6' is, especially if they listen to Drake.
"It also happens to be the number I used for three out of my four seasons in Formula 2. Although that was more by chance, as DAMS was given 5 and 6 because of the finishing positions in the championship. But as soon as we had those numbers, I knew immediately which one I wanted!"
Ignoring the fact that sceptics on Twitter reacted to Latifi's choice was down to, amongst other things, the likely gap to his teammate, George Russell in qualifying, the FIA introduced the system whereby F1 driver have 'permanent' race numbers in 2014.
Whereas Lewis Hamilton is entitled to use the number '1', the Briton has instead opted to use his old karting number, 44.
In his previous test appearances, Latifi has used a variety of numbers including 45, 34 and, most recently in Abu Dhabi, 40.