A new number on the grid

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Esteban Ocon has made his selection for the number he will use throughout his F1 career, with the Frenchman selecting 31. Ocon will make his grand prix debut at the Belgian Grand Prix on August 28, alongside fellow Mercedes youngster Pascal Wehrlein at Manor. With grids below 15 teams for many years prior to the introduction of the new numbering system in 2014, the last time the number 31 was used was by David Brabham for Simtek in 1994.

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.