Emilia Romagna GP || May 19 || 15h00 (Local time)
12 May 2024
Verstappen gets F1 abbreviation tweak for 2017
"The team applied for it and it was approved"
A minor tweak has put a smile on Max Verstappen’s face in Barcelona.
The Red Bull driver made an application to F1’s governing body to have the ’VES’ abbreviation of his name for official timing screens changed to ’VER’.
Dutchman Verstappen made his debut in 2015, when Jean-Eric Vergne was already Ferrari’s reserve driver and therefore the holder of the ’VER’ handle.
Verstappen, 19, is quoted by the Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws: "When it become known that Vergne was no longer with Ferrari, I immediately said that I wanted to be ’VER’ — the first letters of my name, as my father used to have.
"The team applied for it and it was approved. I am already ’VER’ on the screens here," he added in Barcelona.
