Max Verstappen begins his hunt for a fifth F1 title: seat fitting completed in Milton Keynes. Max Verstappen visited Red Bull's factory in recent days to start preparations for the new season.

A quiet winter

The world champion is back to work. After spending the winter away from the spotlight—especially compared to Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari, who dominated media attention with the seven-time champion’s move to Maranello—Max Verstappen appears ready to begin his approach to the season that could bring him a fifth consecutive world title.

This weekend, the Dutchman made an appearance in Milton Keynes at Red Bull’s factory for the traditional seat fitting and to complete all the preliminary operations before the first track outing of the new RB21. The livery of the car with which Verstappen will defend his title will be unveiled—alongside those of all other teams—on February 18 in London, at an event strongly backed by F1’s leadership but one that Verstappen had already jokingly threatened to skip.

For the first real track session, however, he will have to wait until February 25 in Bahrain. On that day, exactly 24 hours before official testing begins, Max Verstappen—alongside his new teammate Liam Lawson—will take part in a filming day that will serve as a general shakedown for the newly built car.

During the winter, the Hasselt-born driver also celebrated another symbolic milestone: 1,000 days as the championship leader. This all-time record will be immediately challenged by his rivals from the opening race of the new season in Australia, where everyone will start from zero again.