Exit VES, enter VER for Verstappen on F1 timing screens

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Max Verstappen will no longer appear on Formula One timing screens with the three-letter abbreviation 'VES' in future.

Instead, the Red Bull driver will henceforth be denoted by 'VER', which was always the preferred format that he wanted.

Verstappen was unable to use 'VER' when he made his début in the sport. That's because his former Toro Rosso team mate Jean-Eric Verge had already taken it.

Vergne competed in Formula One between 2011 and 2014. Verstappen entered the sport as a test driver for Toro Rosso in 2014. He subsequently replaced Vergne when the Frenchman moved to Ferrari as test and development driver.

Vergne is now racing in Formula E, so Verstappen re-applied to the FIA to take over the timing screen acronym.

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He confirmed this week that he has received permission to claim the designation for himself in 2017.

"I wanted it from the beginning, but because Vergne was a test driver they didn't give it to me," Verstappen explained to GPUpdate.net at this week's pre-season test.

"When Vergne left Ferrari, I said that I wanted VER, the first three letters of my name, like my dad used to have as well.

"It has been approved – it's already on our timing screens," he said while testing the RB13 on Wednesday at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.