In an MR imaging method and apparatus, a portion of a body placed in an examination volume of an MR device is subjected to an imaging sequence of RF pulses and switched magnetic field gradients. The imaging sequence is a stimulated echo sequence including i) two preparation RF pulses (α) radiated toward the portion of the body during a preparation period (21), and ii) reading RF pulses (β) radiated toward the portion of the body during an acquisition period (22) temporally subsequent to the preparation period (21). FID signals (I1) and stimulated echo signals (I2) are acquired during the acquisition period (22) with equal T2*-weighting. A B1 map indicating a spatial distribution of the RF field of the preparation RF pulses within the portion of the body is derived from the acquired FID (I1) and stimulated echo (I2) signals.