Earlier this week,♐ the Dutchman raced against ice꧅ speedway legend Franky Zorn on the Austrian slopes in Red Bull’s championship-winning 2012 RB8 car, which was fitted with specially designed Pirelli spiked tyres for the event. 

It marked the first time Verstappen has use👍d the #1 since confirming he would swap his permanent #33 for the number reserved exclusively for the world champion for his title defence in 2022. 

Verstappen will be the first driver to sport the #1 since Sebastian Vettel ran it♛ during hi❀s final season with Red Bull in 2014. 

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has elected to stick with his personal #44, while the only other world champion in the V6 hybrid era, Nico Rosberg, retired immediately after winning t⛎he title in 2016. 

"How many times do you get the opportunity to swap?,” 𝓀Verstappen said after his show run. “Number 1 is the best number out there so, for me, it was 🍒very straightforward to pick the number 1.

“Hopefully, of course, that number 33 doesn't c🐓ome back next year!”

Vers🌳tappen pipped Hamilton to clinch his maiden wo🥃rld title in controversial circumstances at last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which concluded an epic season-long battle for supremacy between the two drivers. 

The 24-year-old will get his first taste of the car he hopes will 💟take him to a second successive world championship when F1 pre-season testing begins in Barcelona on February 23-25. 

"It looks a bit different, but at the end of 🌄the day it's still a Formula 1 car," Verstappen added. ꦆ;

"At testing we can do a lot of laps and get a lot of information abou💛t the car, which is important. I'm looking forward to it."