Hamilton under pressure to use number 1

Lewis Hamilton says he still does not want to wear the number 1 in 2018.

Traditionally in F1, the world champion wears the number 1 the following year.

But since drivers have been allowed to personalise their permanent numbers a few years ago, champions actually had the option of not wearing number 1.

Hamilton is among the drivers who have built their number - in the Briton’s case ’44’ - into a personal brand, and the Mercedes driver says he wants to keep it for 2018.

"My engineers want me to and some other people want me to," he admitted to Brazil’s Globo.

"They’re trying to get me to put the number 1 on the car, but I don’t plan to change. The 44 is personal. Everyone has a lucky number.

"Maybe I’ll put the 1 in the 44 or something — maybe we can play around and do something like that. But I really don’t like this number 1 thing. Other drivers have had it in the past but 44, that’s mine," Hamilton smiled.