most drivers don't bother, neither does Hamilton, and he won't be driving with the number on his car for 2019, as in the past years,
but as for me personally, i prefer seeing the WDC number on the car over the drivers' personal chosen number.
even though the number is personal and #44 is immediately connected to Hamilton, as is #33 to Verstappen and #5 to Vettel,
in a few years time drivers stop racing in F1 and their number gets 'inhereted' by a new driver.
Personally, #1 on a car looks to me as instant recognition of achieving that.
I'd much more like to see instead of Mercedes 1 Hamilton 2 Bottas,
to see
1 Hamilton
3 Bottas
2 Vettel
4 Raikkonen
5 Verstappen
etc.
no matter what team they're driving for.
but it's totally offtopic, just pointed it out due to Hamilton driving with the NR1 on the nose for free practice.