WATCH: Max Verstappen Receives a Hero’s Welcome on His Return to Red Bull F1 Headquarters

Max Verstappen won the 2021 world championship dramatically. He overtook his championship rival Lewis Hamilton in the last lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. With his late lunge on the last lap, the young Dutchman sent the whole Red Bull team and the motor sport world into a frenzy.

He returned to the team’s factory in Milton Keynes on Wednesday and received a hero’s welcome. The team members fired up orange flare guns to cover the new world champion in smoke. He embraced everyone present at the celebration and walked into the factory to celebrate with the team.

WATCH STORY: Top 5 wins of Max Verstappen’s F1 career

Max Verstappen to run with No.1 on his car next season

As reported by Formula1.com, the Red Bull driver mentioned he will replace his traditional 33 on the car with No.1. Max stated he was not sure how many times he would get the opportunity to use that number in the future.

“Yeah, I will run it. How many times can you do that? I don’t know, maybe it’s the only time I can in my life. It’s the best number out there. So I will definitely put it on the car.” said the Dutch driver.

The Dutch driver sympathized with his rival Lewis Hamilton and mentioned that he can understand his pain. But he also revealed that Lewis can take comfort in the fact that he has already won seven titles.

“Of course, it helps if you have already seven titles. That comforts him a bit. I think if it was the other way around, it would have been more painful for me because I didn’t have one,” said the world champion.

This will be the first time since 2014 that a driver will use No.1 on their car. The last time Sebastian Vettel used it when he was world champion from 2010 to 2013.

Max Verstappen would love to defend his title in the 2022 season and prove to the world that he is the undisputed No.1 driver in the sport right now.

READ MORE: How Many Cars Does Max Verstappen Have in his Garage?