Verstappen gets F1 abbreviation tweak for 2017

Mar.2 - 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.

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Leopold

Leopold Pleijsier founded F1-Fansite.com in 2001 and has followed Formula 1 since the early 1980s. He writes about daily F1 news, race weekends, drivers and the sport’s history.

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