Todt wants big numbers on F1 cars

Remember when you could actually see the car numbers in F1?

FIA President Jean Todt is hoping to introduce more visible car numbers in a bid to improve the show for Formula 1 viewers, with the 65-year-old claiming it is currently too difficult to identify drivers when they are on-track. Most teams place the allocated numbers on top of the nose, or on the rear wing endplates of their cars, but Todt is eager to make regulation changes in the near future.

"It is very difficult to identify a driver in car," he told The Age. "I would like to see who is driving the car, from a long distance, and the number of the car."

"Like in NASCAR, a driver who is arriving in Formula 1, he gets a number. He would keep it for all of his career. You could identify a driver with a number. At the moment, you don't find the number, you don't find the name."

Despite holding presidency over the F1 field, Todt needs a majority of the teams to agree with his new plans, but so far many have disagreed to commit to the idea.

"You need to have some strong ground for changing," the Frenchman added. "You need to have a minimum of positive opinion among the group in Formula 1. So far, unfortunately, they are not interested, they are quite happy. It will come, it will change."