Four-time Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen has switched his personal race number to the number previously used by his former team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.
Ricciardo was the sole holder of the #3 since the permanent driver numbers were introduced in 2014, when Ricciardo was already on the grid and about to make a very fruitful step up to the senior Red Bull team.
Verstappen joined the grid a year later and had settled on the #33. He had run the #3 in his competitive single-seater debut in the Ferrari-backed Florida Winter Series a year prior.
"My favourite number has always been 3, apart from number 1. We can now swap, so it’ll be number 3," said Verstappen in a Viaplay interview, as quoted by his official website.
He has run the #1 as the defending champion over the last four seasons, but relinquished the title this year to McLaren's Lando Norris.
A change to the number rules was rubber-stamped just in time this year to allow drivers to change their assigned number from the one they'd first selected when coming into F1.
However, Verstappen would've still had to wait another year to get his hands on the #3 had Ricciardo, who ended his career in 2024, not approved of handing over his number as early as this upcoming season.
There are expected to be two other number changes in the entry list.
Norris is set to make use of his right as champion to run the #1 - which is voluntary - instead of his regular #4, while Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad, the only new addition to the full-time grid next year, was announced with the #41.
The #41 has never been raced under the current permanent number system, though it did get FP1 runouts with Isack Hadjar and Susie Wolff.
