Will Charles Leclerc Switch His Driver Number to That of a Former Ferrari Champion?

Immediately after Charles Leclerc replaced Kimi Raikkonen in 2019, he showed his class, his talent, and his promise. Ferrari were in a peculiar situation at the time because they were beginning to have problems with Sebastian Vettel and the veteran Raikkonen wasn’t getting any younger.

So, Leclerc came and made sure that Ferrari didn’t have to worry about the future or have to make a compromise. But while his new team didn’t make a compromise, the Monegasque driver had to make a compromise with his number.

Currently, Leclerc drives with the No. 16 on his car. But according to Motorsport, he wants to replace his current number and change it to the No.7, which is his favorite number.

In 2018, Leclerc had said, “I wanted to race with the number 7, but Kimi Raikkonen is already driving it.

“Then I decided to take the number 16 because that’s my birth date and I couldn’t find anything better than that. And if you add 1 and 6, you get my favorite number 7, which is why I chose 16.”

According to the rules, drivers can choose their desired number (except for No. 1 which is reserved for the champion). Also, they must take into account if the number they want is already taken by another driver,

So, now that Kimi Raikkonen has retired and the No.7 is up for grabs, Leclerc can soon see his favorite number.

Or can he?

Will Charles Leclerc be able to change to his favorite number?

Sadly for Leclerc, he might not be able to change to No.7 anytime soon. This is because, despite Raikkonen’s retirement, his number is still reserved for at least two more seasons, in case he changes his mind and comes back.

But Raikkonen returning to F1 now is highly unlikely, because well, he has

So as of now, Charles Leclerc might have to wait for at least two more years to get his number changed. And this time, he’d hope that another driver doesn’t come and take away what he wants.