Should Pecco Bagnaia run with #1 next year? In the past, we have even seen riders racing with the #0, even in the MotoGP World Championship.
About Alessio Piana de Motoracing
Year after year, the same dilemma returns. Which ? Should the reigning MotoGP champion race with number 1? Pecco Bagnaia, at least officially, wonders. It was only at the end of January, taking the opportunity of the official Ducati MotoGP 2023 presentation, that he would communicate his decision to continue with his #63 or to show the #1 clearly visible on the front fairing of his Desmosedici GP. Actually, in the upper class, this is a recurring theme, but in the past, the upper class really went crazy!
On the other hand, it's been 10 years since we last saw the number 1 in MotoGP. The last one was Casey Stoner in 2012, with his successors who had decided to give up the distinctive number reserved for the reigning champion. Of Jorge Lorenzo with #99 in 2013 (after running with #1 in 2011) at Marc Marquez (still with his #93), until the recent cases of Joan mir et Fabio Quartararo, who retained their #36 and #20. Without forgetting Valentino Rossi, who (obviously) always wanted to keep his
As mentioned, Pecco Bagnaia will announce its final decision in just under a month. In recent weeks, he has repeated that he has not yet clarified this issue. Yes, fascinated by this #1 that all drivers dream of, but which also involves additional pressure. A thesis which can also be extended to Alvaro Bautista, given that the (provisional) entry list for the 2023 Superbike World Championship includes #19.
Can we wear zero without being a loser, an escape for Pecco Bagnaia?
We'll see, but in the past there have been episodes of all colors and... numbers! The case of Phil Read at the 1975 French Grand Prix organized on the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet is famous. At the time, numbers were automatically assigned by the race organizers during the race, so in this circumstance, No. 1 had been reserved for Teuvo Lansivuori and not the reigning 500cc world champion. In protest, Read even chose to run with the number zero on his MV Agusta, for an episode that has gone down in history. Indeed, reports the book “They won on the Paul Ricard circuit” written by Eric Barthelemy, some enthusiasts from across the Alps said sarcastically at the time “ The number Phil Read deserves ". The endless rivalry on the France-United Kingdom axis also extends to motorcycles…
A future Formula 1 world champion like Damon Hill as well as a former biker (remember: he raced motorcycles from 1981 to 1984 with a Yamaha TZ350, winning a Clubman 350cc title in 1983) contested two consecutive seasons with Williams with the #0. In 1993 and 1994, while Nigel Mansell et Alain Prost left the reigning Champions, the 1996 world champion was to race with the renowned nickname "Captain Zero". For different reasons, the queen of Endurance team, Suzuki SERT, in turn faced the world championship in 2000 initially with zero on the GSX-R 750 dressed in the Chesterfield colors. Indeed, until 2000 inclusive, the title of World Endurance Champion was awarded to riders and not to teams. At the end of the 1999 season, Jehan d'Orgeix leaves SERT and, precisely for this reason, Dominique Meliand's team is forced to race with the number 0 assigned to it by the FIM, subsequently moving to #100.
In Endurance there were also several bibs with the zero in front, a bit like Andrea Dovizioso and his famous #04. Prerogative of Suzuka 8 Hours, the Japanese teams are often, despite themselves, unable to race with numbers reserved for the permanent World Endurance teams. For this reason Kevin schwantz, during his extraordinary participation in 2013, raced with #071 and not with #71 of Team Kagayama. Instead, symbolic reasons led the TRICKSTAR team to take on the 8 Hours repeatedly with #01, a clear reference to Neon Genesis EVANGELION's EVA-01 with a dedicated livery attached.
Returning to the initial theme, the choice of #1 remains optional in the FIM Championships, but in certain realities it is even obligatory for the reigning Champions. It is in AMA Supercross / Motocross after Ricky Carmichael has run his iconic #4 in the past (also in his 2007 part-time season). Japan, on the other hand, is establishing itself as a world apart, just remember that from 2020 all bibs in all All Japan classes (!) are automatically allocated based on the rankings of the previous season. The reigning champion runs with No. 1, his second with No. 2 and so on until the tenth. Teams and drivers are opposed to this old-fashioned decision. And for good reason: certain drivers have lost their distinctive racing number and certain sponsors…
