Jack Doohan has revealed his Formula 1 race number after his initial choice had to be changed because Andrea Kimi Antonelli had already taken it.
The Australian, who is stepping up to Alpine in 2025 as team-mate to Pierre Gasly, had first lodged a request to run with #12 after being told by the FIA that it was available.
However, it subsequently emerged that #12 had been taken by incoming Mercedes rookie Antonelli – which meant Doohan needed to go for something different.
Now, in a video posted by his Alpine squad, Doohan has announced that he is instead taking #7 – which has a double meaning for him.
“So that's it. Number seven will be my race number for 2025,” he said. “Super psyched.
“I really wanted to go with a number that I raced with before. Something that had meaning for me. I raced with number seven in 2019.
“And also one of my idols, a super special person and driver, Kimi Raikkonen, also drove with that number.
“I'm really looking forward to continuing it on and making it my own. And yeah, getting some luck from number seven.”
Doohan raced with the #7 when he competed for Double R Racing in the Euroformula Open Championship in 2019.
Under F1's current sporting regulations, drivers have to choose a permanent number that they keep for their entire F1 career.
Numbers only become available if a driver's F1 career is deemed to have ended after two full seasons out of grand prix racing.
Raikkonen competed with #7 from 2014 until 2021, which means it became available from this season.
Antonelli’s preference for #12 was prompted by its link to his hero Ayrton Senna, who raced with #12 from 1985 through to his title-winning 1988 campaign.
"Yeah, I will take 12," said the Italian. "I have many numbers that I like. But 12 is a special one, also because of an idol. I've been using it since F4. It always went well with 12. So, no reason to change it for next year."
