At a time teams like McLaren are seeking the retro look, it has been noted that this doesn't apply to having the driver's names on the side of his car.

Indeed, in recent years it has been increasingly difficult to identify drivers from their teammates.

While the move to limit helmet livery changes has helped (a little) the decision by Force India to have both its drivers adopt similar pink liveries has only muddled the issue as it is one that could be adopted by other teams.

Earlier this week, among a number of agreements that followed the meeting of the Strategy Group was that from the Spanish Grand Prix, the sporting regulations would be strictly enforced to ensure that the visibility of drivers' names and numbers will be clearer.

Article 9.2 of the Sporting Regulations, which is the article that sets out the allocation of career-long race numbers, also states that: "the name or the emblem of the make of the car must appear on the front of the nose of the car and in either case be at least 25mm in its largest dimension. The name of the driver must appear on the external bodywork and be clearly legible."

Writing to the teams ahead of this weekend's Russian Grand Prix, and with the Spanish round of the championship just two weeks away, Charlie Whiting said: "We require each car number to be clearly visible from the front of the car (Article 9.2).

"We feel that to be clearly visible the numbers should be no less than 230mm high, have a minimum stroke thickness of 40mm and be of a clearly contrasting colour to their background.

"Each driver's name (or TLA) is to be clearly legible on the external bodywork (Article 9.3)." he continued, the TLA referring to the official timing screen abbreviation for each drivers such as HAM (Hamilton), BOT (Bottas) and RIC (Ricciardo).

"We feel that to be clearly legible the names should be no less than 150mm high, have a minimum stroke thickness of 30mm and be of a clearly contrasting colour to their background."

In conclusion, Whiting warned that failure to adhere to the rules could mean exclusion from the event.

"In order to fully comply with the F1 Sporting Regulations, we expect all cars to be presented in Barcelona with this new, much clearer, identification," he warned. "A report will be made to the stewards concerning any car that does not comply with the above minimum requirements."

It is understood the race number and driver name are to be placed either on the rear wing endplate or airbox fin - though the fins are set to be banned from next year.

One media outlet claims that, using Sauber as an example, the race number and driver ID could take up space on the rear wing endplate worth as much as $6m - which is pretty much why the teams dropped such information in the first place.

Check out our Thursday gallery from Sochi, here.