Formula 1 driver Lando Norris has made something of a habit of sending champagne sky-high by banging the bottom of his bubbles bottle into the podium.
However, his latest effort backfired spectacularly as a precariously placed porcelain trophy fell from the top step and shattered at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was left to gather up the pieces of his trophy, leaving the McLaren star red-faced.
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The pair shared a laugh, despite the state of the trophy which is reportedly worth $66,000.
In an interview with Sky Sport’s F1 and its new kids-focused program, Verstappen and Norris joked about the incident.
“That’s my celebration, to hit the bottle,” said Norris.
“Max put his trophy in the wrong place. It’s Max’s fault. I already told him it’s his fault.”
When Verstappen arrived, he said, “You said it was my fault? I gave you a yellow card.
“I will go to Zak (Brown, McLaren CEO) because apparently he has a bit of spare money for the personnel in the team, so he can spend it on a trophy.”
The exchange continued in the post-race press conference.
“I’m not sure. Yeah. I’m not sure,” said Norris with a wry smile.
“Max just placed it too close to the edge.”
Verstappen replied, “I’m going to take it off next time.”
Norris said, “Yeah, just hold it.
“I don’t know. It fell over, I guess. Not my problem. It’s his.”
The trophies are made locally and take upwards of six months to produce.
It’s said the company is prepared in any case for such situations where trophies are damaged.
McLaren team Zak Brown saw the light-hearted side of it. He picked up Norris’ second place trophy and motioned as if to smash it during a team photo.
For Red Bull, Verstappen’s Hungarian Grand Prix win marked the 12th consecutive win and eclipsed the 1988 record held by McLaren that was shared between Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna of 11 wins straight.
It was also Verstappen’s seventh consecutive success. The Dutch driver holds a 110-point buffer over teammate Sergio Perez after 11 races.
The Formula 1 season continues with the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps on July 30.
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