The Spanish Grand Prix was run at the Madring. Lando Norris finished second, behind Kimi Antonelli. The cool-down room is where the top three watched the highlights of the race.
That is where an official stepped in. Norris was about to open a Coca-Cola, and Formula 1 has a partnership with Pepsi.
Norris had warned Antonelli that a remark was coming. “I might get told off,” he said. He drank it anyway, then added: “I’ve just done a race, so I’m allowed to drink whatever I want. Thank you very much.”
The sequence divided fans and observers. Gunther Steiner called the attitude unprofessional, saying drivers know the sport’s marketing rules perfectly well: “If you are a professional, you don’t do that. End of story.” David Coulthard backed Norris and criticised the urge to control everything in the sport: “Well done to Lando for standing his ground.”
End-of-day report. A drink opened in a closed room, in front of the race highlights, after the chequered flag. A remark from an official. A remark isn’t something you can wave a flag at: there is no flag for that. At the post we have a thermos and a mug of coffee, and nobody has ever come to check the brand, or anything else. Post 14, received. Nothing further to report.
One point of procedure: it was an official who made the remark, in the cool-down room, after the finish.
In the sim, the cool-down room doesn’t exist: you cross the line, you get the classification, you drink whatever is on the desk. One more variable nobody modelled. In theory.
It’s true, we checked: Nextgen-Auto.
