Formula 1 Champion Max Verstappen Will Change His Race Number To No.1
โ€” 15 December 2021

Formula 1 Champion Max Verstappen Will Change His Race Number To No.1

โ€” 15 December 2021
Garry Lu
WORDS BY
Garry Lu

After clinching his maiden Formula 1 world title with a controversial final lap duel against seven-time champion Sir Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen has earned the right to shelf his regular race number 33 next season in favour of number one. Reserved solely for the current King of the Grid, this marks the first occasion it has been adopted since Sebastian Vettel in 2014, immediately after the Red Bull Racing driver secured his fourth consecutive title.

โ€œYeah I will run it,โ€ says the 24-year-old Dutch motorsport talent.

โ€œHow many times can you do that? I donโ€™t know, maybe itโ€™s the only time I can in my life.โ€

โ€œItโ€™s the best number out there. So I will definitely put it on the car.โ€

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Verstappenโ€™s Mercedes rival in Lewis Hamilton has famously opted to stick with race number 44 throughout his entire tenure as reigning F1 champion. Although as formula1.com has noted, he has received dispensation to run it on a handful of occasions as a one-off during Friday practice.

Hamiltonโ€™s former teammate Nico Rosberg, of course, never took up the opportunity either, given how he retired immediately after his own maiden championship win in 2016. Whether he wouldโ€™ve adopted race number one like Seb Vettel or Max Verstappen really is anyoneโ€™s guess.

Despite the protests lodged by Mercedes F1 โ€“ as well as the protests of a rabid fandom โ€“ the FIA has tuned out all the noise to confirm Max Verstappen as the official 2021 world driver champion. But itโ€™d be fanciful to assume the matter of a late safety car deployment in conjunction with hilariously fresher tyres wonโ€™t plague Verstappen until he logs another season victory against Hamilton under different circumstances.

As far as 50% of Formula 1 fans are concerned, Red Bullโ€™s latest title comes with an asterisk.

Formula 1 World Champion Max Verstappen Racing Number One Red Bull

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Garry Lu
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After stretching his legs with companies such as The Motley Fool and the odd marketing agency, Garry joined Boss Hunting in 2019 as a fully-fledged Content Specialist. In 2021, he was promoted to News Editor. Garry proudly retains a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, black bruises from Muay Thai, as well as a black belt in all things pop culture. Drop him a line at [email protected]