{"id":355319,"date":"2025-12-18T04:14:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T04:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/355319\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T04:14:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T04:14:10","slug":"daniel-ricciardo-number-3-goes-to-max-verstappen-in-2026-red-bull-car-gets-iconic-digit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/355319\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniel Ricciardo number 3 goes to Max Verstappen in 2026, Red Bull car gets iconic digit"},"content":{"rendered":"

The legendary number three is set to return to Formula 1<\/a>, but not with Daniel Ricciardo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Instead, it will be long-time friend and former Red Bull<\/a> teammate Max Verstappen<\/a> who will don the iconic digit after the championship number one moves to McLaren<\/a>, with the new title holder, Lando Norris<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Reports indicate that Ricciardo was more than happy to hand over his trademark number to Verstappen.<\/p>\n

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\"The<\/p>\n

The number three in Formula 1 has a new home. \u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Typically, FIA regulations state that there will be a two-season waiting period before a retired driver’s number becomes available. But Ricciardo has reportedly stepped in to expedite the process.<\/p>\n

Since his first championship in 2021<\/a>, Verstappen has exercised his right to run the number one. In 2026, he’ll switch to a completely different number, which he has never run in his F1 career.<\/p>\n

Verstappen admitted that number three was actually his favourite number and his original plan, but since Ricciardo already ran the three, he took 33 for his car. <\/p>\n

“Not 33, no,” Verstappen said to ViaPlay when asked which race number he will use in 2026.<\/p>\n

\"Daniel<\/p>\n

Daniel Riccardo drove with three for his F1 career. \u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

“My favourite number has actually been three, besides one,” he explained.<\/p>\n

“We can now switch. It will be number three.<\/p>\n

“Thirty-three was always fine, but I prefer a single three to two threes. I’ve always said it represented double happiness, but of course, I’ve already had my luck in F1.”<\/p>\n

Now that Ricciardo is well and truly out of the sport<\/a>, it was a matter of time before someone snatched up the number for themselves.<\/p>\n

Ricciardo originally took the three as a tribute to NASCAR<\/a> legend Dale Earnhardt.<\/p>\n

“It has everything to do with Dale Earnhardt,” Ricciardo once said of his number in F1 and the NASCAR legend.<\/p>\n

“I was always a big fan of his.”<\/p>\n

\"Number<\/p>\n

Number three has been in the Red Bull family with Ricciardo during his F1 career. \u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

The FIA has confirmed that because the Australian voluntarily relinquished his claim, Verstappen won’t have to wait the standard two years to take up the number.<\/p>\n

In 2026, the number three will once again be emblazoned on the nose of a Red Bull. But this time, under the Dutch flag.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The legendary number three is set to return to Formula 1, but not with Daniel Ricciardo. Instead, it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":355320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-355319","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-formula-1","12":"tag-formula1","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}