Each driver is assigned a number. The previous season's champion is designated number 1, with his team-mate given number 2. Numbers are then assigned in order according to each team's position in the previous season's constructors' championship. The number 13 is not used.
There have been exceptions to this rule, such as in 1993 and 1994, when the current World Drivers' Champion (Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost, respectively) was no longer competing in Formula One. In this case the drivers for the team of the previous year's champion are given numbers 0 (Damon Hill, on both occasions) and 2 (Prost himself and Ayrton Senna—replaced after his death by David Coulthard and occasionally Nigel Mansell–respectively). The number 13 has not been used since 1976, before which it was occasionally assigned at the discretion of individual race organisers. Before 1996, only the world championship winning driver and his team generally swapped numbers with the previous champion–the remainder held their numbers from prior years, as they had been originally set at the start of the 1974 season. For many years, for example, Ferrari held numbers 27 and 28, regardless of their finishing position in the world championship.
Michael Schumacher holds the record for having won the most Drivers' Championships, with seven. Jochen Rindt became the only posthumous World Champion after a fatal accident at the 1970 Italian Grand Prix.
Feeder series
For the most part F1 drivers start in Karting and then come up through traditional European single seater series like Formula Ford, Formula Renault, Formula 3, and finally GP2. The GP2 series started in 2005 and all three champions have gone on to race in F1. Before GP2, Formula Two and then Formula 3000 had filled the role of the last major "stepping stone" into F1. 2006 GP2 champion Lewis Hamilton became the first F2, F3000 or GP2 champion to win the Formula One driver's title in 2008.[39] Drivers are not required to have competed at this level before entering Formula One. British F3 has long been considered one of the best places to spot F1 talent, with champions including Nigel Mansell, Ayrton Senna and Mika Häkkinen having moved straight from that series to Formula One. Again, though, it is possible to be picked earlier, as was the case with Kimi Räikkönen, who went straight from Formula Renault to an F1 drive.
American Championship Car Racing has also contributed to the Formula One grid. Champions Mario Andretti and Jacques Villeneuve, as well as Michael Andretti, Juan Pablo Montoya, Cristiano da Matta and Sébastien Bourdais have all moved to F1 from America, with varying degrees of success. Alessandro Zanardi raced in Formula 1 from 1991 to 1994, entering 27 races with little success, but his successful career in CART, winning the championship in 1997 and 1998, gave him the opportunity to return to Formula 1 in 1999. However, he failed to score a single point during the season.
Other drivers have taken different paths to F1; Damon Hill raced motorbikes, and Michael Schumacher raced in sports cars, albeit after climbing through the junior single seater ranks. To race, however, the driver must hold an FIA Super Licence–ensuring that the driver has the requisite skills, and will not therefore be a danger to others. Some drivers haven't had the license when first signed to a F1 team. Kimi Räikkönen received the license despite having only 23 car races to his credit.
Beyond F1
Most F1 drivers retire before their mid-30s; however, many keep racing in disciplines which are less physically demanding. The German touring car championship, the DTM, is a popular category involving ex-drivers such as two-times F1 champion Mika Häkkinen, Ralf Schumacher and Jean Alesi, and some F1 drivers have left to race in America–Nigel Mansell and Emerson Fittipaldi duelled for the 1993 IndyCar title, and Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Speed and Jacques Villeneuve have moved to NASCAR. Some drivers have gone to A1GP (Narain Karthikeyan), and some, such as Gerhard Berger and Alain Prost, returned to F1 as team owners. A series for former Formula One drivers, called Grand Prix Masters, ran briefly in 2005 and 2006.[40] Others have become pundits for TV coverage such as Martin Brundle for ITV and Jean Alesi for Italian national network RAI and David Coulthard for the BBC. Others, such as Damon Hill and Jackie Stewart take active roles in motorsport in their own countries.
2009 Calendar
| Round | Predicted Race Title | Grand Prix | Circuit | City / Location | Date | Time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local | UTC | ||||||
| 1 |  ING Australian Grand Prix | Australian GP | Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit | Melbourne, Victoria | 29 March | 17:00 | 06:00 |
| 2 |  Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix | Malaysian GP | Sepang International Circuit | Kuala Lumpur | 5 April | 17:00 | 09:00 |
| 3 |  Sinopec Chinese Grand Prix | Chinese GP | Shanghai International Circuit | Shanghai | 19 April | 15:00 | 07:00 |
| 4 |  Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix | Bahrain GP | Bahrain International Circuit | Sakhir, Manama | 26 April | 14:30 | 11:30 |
| 5 |  Gran Premio de España Telefónica | Spanish GP | Circuit de Catalunya | Barcelona | 10 May | 14:00 | 12:00 |
| 6 |  Grand Prix de Monaco | Monaco GP | Circuit de Monaco | Monte Carlo | 24 May | 14:00 | 12:00 |
| 7 |  ING Turkish Grand Prix | Turkish GP | Istanbul Park | Istanbul | 7 June | 15:00 | 12:00 |
| 8 |  Santander British Grand Prix | British GP | Silverstone Circuit | Silverstone | 21 June | 13:00 | 12:00 |
| 9 |  Großer Preis von Deutschland | German GP* | Nürburgring | Nürburg | 12 July | 14:00 | 12:00 |
| 10 |  Magyar Nagydij | Hungarian GP | Hungaroring | Budapest | 26 July | 14:00 | 12:00 |
| 11 |  Telefónica Grand Prix of Europe | European GP | Valencia Street Circuit | Valencia | 23 August | 14:00 | 12:00 |
| 12 |  ING Belgian Grand Prix | Belgian GP | Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps | Spa | 30 August | 14:00 | 12:00 |
| 13 |  Gran Premio Santander d'Italia | Italian GP | Autodromo Nazionale Monza | Monza | 13 September | 14:00 | 12:00 |
| 14 |  SingTel Singapore Grand Prix† | Singapore GP | Marina Bay Street Circuit | Singapore | 27 September | 20:00[41] | 12:00 |
| 15 |  Fuji Television Japanese Grand Prix | Japanese GP | Suzuka Circuit | Suzuka | 4 October | 15:00[41] | 06:00 |
| 16 |  Grande Prêmio do Brasil | Brazilian GP | Autódromo José Carlos Pace | São Paulo | 18 October | 14:00 | 16:00 |
| 17 |  Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix | Abu Dhabi GP (United Arab Emirates) | Yas Marina Circuit‡ | Abu Dhabi | 1 November | 14:00 | 10:00 |
† Night Race
‡ New Circuit
* As was the practice in 2007, if an agreement cannot be reached over the naming rights, then the Grand Prix held at Nürburgring will likely be named something other than the "German Grand Prix" - as the Hockenheimring currently holds all naming rights for the "German Grand Prix". The last Grands Prix to be held at the Nürburgring that were not named the European Grand Prix were held in 1997 and 1998, under the name Luxembourg Grand Prix. However, while currently the name "European Grand Prix" is reserved for the Valencia Street Circuit this could be changed to the "Mediterranean Grand Prix."
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