New number, same threat? Verstappen’s switch after title defeat

On a cool evening in Estoril, with floodlights bouncing off wet pitlane concrete and a Mercedes GT3 still ticking hot, the biggest clue to Max Verstappen’s next act wasn’t on track at all. It hung above the Red Bull star’s temporary garage: a stark white board, a bold black 3. No #1. No 33. Just three.

After four straight titles, Verstappen’s reign was finally broken this year. Lando Norris snatched the 2025 crown by just two points in Abu Dhabi, and with it the right to bolt the #1 onto his McLaren from 2026, as Sky Sports detailed. Under F1’s rules, once you’re no longer champion you hand the #1 back – there is no tactical undercut here, no way to defend from the inevitable.

On paper, Verstappen could simply have slipped back into his old 33, the number that has followed him from karting to his explosive F1 debut. Instead, as GPblog’s cameras caught in Portugal, he has chosen something more radical: a full reset around his long‑stated lucky number, 3.

This wasn’t a snap call made in the dirty air of defeat. Verstappen has been telegraphing the move for weeks. Speaking earlier in Las Vegas, he admitted he was already thinking beyond 33. According to AutoHebdo, he told reporters:

"It probably won't be the 33rd. But let's not think about it."

— Max Verstappen, quoted by AutoHebdo

ESPN later reported that he’d pushed the idea further as the FIA prepared to relax its once rigid numbering rules. Under the new system, drivers can now change their career numbers if the previous holder formally releases them. Verstappen made his preference crystal clear:

"I will look at it over the winter, but my favourite number is 3."

— Max Verstappen, speaking to Autosport via ESPN

The problem was that #3 still belonged – on paper at least – to Daniel Ricciardo. As GPblog and USA Today’s Motorsports Wire both explained, the FIA normally keeps a number locked for two seasons after a driver leaves the grid. For Verstappen to take it in 2026, Ricciardo had to waive his claim. Behind the scenes, that’s exactly what happened, with the governing body confirming to GPblog that a formal renunciation would short‑circuit the usual pit window and free the number immediately.

So why does a digit matter to a driver whose lap time will still come from his right foot and the RB22 beneath him? Jalopnik’s deep dive into F1’s numbering culture framed it neatly: since 2014, numbers have been branding as much as bookkeeping. Lewis Hamilton clung to 44 even when he could have run #1; Norris, by contrast, embraced the champion’s plate. “It’s tradition, it’s there for a reason,” he told Sky. “It’s there because you can go and try grab it and you can work hard to try and get it.”

Verstappen is threading a different line. He’s surrendered the #1 without a fight – that battle was lost on track – but he’s not retreating into nostalgia with 33. F1 Oversteer reminded how he originally chose 33 as a riff on his karting number 3, calling it “double happiness”. Now, with the rules changed and Ricciardo stepping aside, he no longer needs the echo; he can go straight to the source.

There’s humour in it too, the sharp edge that has always made Verstappen such a compelling rival. Grandprix.com captured him joking that he wanted 69 – vetoed by his father – because it “always looks the same, no matter how you look at the car”. It was a wink at the marketing circus around modern F1, a reminder that beneath the polished branding there’s still a racer who enjoys needling the establishment.

Yet the context is serious. This is the first winter since 2020 that Verstappen isn’t the man everyone else is chasing. As HITC recounted from Red Bull’s own podcast, he left Abu Dhabi oddly upbeat for a defeated champion:

"We really did everything we could, so there’s no regrets in that sense… I’m really proud of… this team, how we have managed to turn things around and have such a positive atmosphere as well."

— Max Verstappen, Talking Bull podcast via HITC

The number switch fits that mood. It’s not a sulk, it’s a statement. The #1 has gone to Norris, the new standard‑bearer; 33 is being parked with the first chapter of Verstappen’s career. The #3 marks something else: a leaner, more personal identity as F1 heads into its 2026 rules reset, with Red Bull building its own power unit and rivals circling like a DRS train down a long back straight.

When the FIA’s official entry list lands this week, the change will be just a single character on a PDF. But in the cockpit, when the lights go out in Melbourne and Verstappen stares at that small "3" on his steering wheel instead of a "1", it will carry the memory of a title lost by inches and the intent of a champion who believes the story isn’t finished. New number, yes. Same threat? The rest of the grid is about to find out.