Neuville has competed in recent years with the number 11, but for next season, one of the ones will drop off. The Belgian driver plans to adopt the number 1.
This privilege is reserved exclusively for the reigning world champion, and Neuville has decided to take advantage of it. He secured his first world championship title at the end of last season.
The number 1 hasn’t been seen in the WRC since 2022, when Sebastien Ogier used it after claiming his eighth and, so far, final championship the previous year.
In contrast, Kalle Rovanperä, who won the WRC title in 2022 and 2023, chose not to use the number 1 and stuck with his signature number 69.
“It is no secret we already have number ones on the car, but now there will be only one number one. I’m looking forward to it,” Neuville revealed to Motorsport.com.
Neuville also shared that his championship win only truly sank in after celebrating at a special event in his home country, Belgium.
“It feels good to be honest. Obviously it is the best reward we can get for all the hard work over the past years not only this season. It has been a nice journey and a challenging journey, for sure, but we are proud,” Neuville said.
The Belgian driver was surprised by the turnout at the championship celebration in Belgium and by how genuinely happy people were for him.
“We have had some great celebrations in Belgium with more than 2000 people coming together to celebrate when we came back. That was a nice moment and I won’t forget it,” Neuville said.
“I was so surprised to see that most of the people were more happy than I was. We could really feel that the people were cheering for us throughout the season, and were relieved that we finally did it,” the new champion added.
