The number 27 will always occupy a special place in Formula One history. Since Gilles Villeneuve displayed his unique style with that number in 1981 and 1982, the number is rarely thought of without thinking of the Canadian. That this didn’t have much to do with success, shows in the fact that three drivers won more races than Villeneuve with number 27. Alan Jones won nine times in the Williams, Ayrton Senna six times in the McLaren and Michele Alboreto three times with the Ferrari. The fact that so many successes were achieved with this relatively high numbers is because Williams grew from mediocrity in the early eighties. The former privateer team carried the number from 1978 until 1980. Rules then prescribed that the team of the World Champion should carry the numbers one and two and that the team of the previous champion would drive with the numbers that team used in the previous season. Hence Ferrari got the numbers 27 and 28 for 1981.
In 1989 Alain Prost won the championship in a McLaren, but moved to Ferrari for 1990, taking the number one with him and thus giving McLaren the number 27. Ayrton Senna promptly won the championship, which returned the number to Ferrari again, where it remained until 1995. After that season the rules for numbering cars were changed to reflect the position in the championship and as there weren’t as much teams as before, the number 27 wasn’t used again. The last driver to use the number 27 was Jean Alesi.
In 381 appearances, the number 27 won 25 times, collected 24 pole positions and drove the fastest lap 25 times.
Tags: gilles villeneuve, number 27
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