Daniel Ricciardo gave Max Verstappen blessing to use old F1 number

Daniel Ricciardo gave Max Verstappen permission to use his old racing number from the 2026 F1 season.

Verstappen sought out former Red Bull teammate Ricciardo for approval to use the number 3 and the Australian agreed, according to a statement on the four-time world champion’s official website.

Ricciardo used the number 3 from 2014 until the 2024 Singapore Grand Prix, which was his last race in F1.

F1’s rules state that a number remains assigned to a driver until it has been inactive for two seasons.

That was not the case for Ricciardo, who announced his retirement from motorsport earlier this year, but he gave permission for his old racing number to be used early following discussions with Verstappen.

Verstappen has swapped from his old number 33, having revealed that 3 is his favourite number.

During an interview with Dutch broadcaster Viaplay, Verstappen said: "It won't be number 33. My favourite number has always been three, apart from number one. We can now swap, so it'll be number three.

"Number 33 was always fine, but I just like one 3 better than two. I always said it represented double luck, but I've already had my luck in Formula 1."

The Dutchman has run the number 1 on his car since 2022 as a result of winning four consecutive world championships.

Verstappen’s four-year reign at the top of F1 was ended by McLaren’s Lando Norris, who confirmed he will be switching to number 1 for 2026.

Since the new rule was introduced in F1, Lewis Hamilton has been the only world champion to opt against running the number 1 on his car.

Seven-time world champion kept the number 44 on his car throughout his six title-winning campaigns with Mercedes.