Even at the end of the past season, the pilots met at a joint dinner, which traditionally closes the competition year. This time, Pierre Gasly withdrew his account, although Max Verstappen admitted that it was his turn. The Dutchman laughs that he had no idea when the Frenchman overtook him.
The organizer of the joint dinner was again Lewis Hamilton. With the exception of Lanca Stroll, Fernando Alonso and Nico Hülkenberg, everyone attended and clearly had a good time, and Lewis reportedly ordered something from everything on the menu. However, there is a price to be had for good fun.
Pierre Gasly revealed during the last weekend that this time he “slammed the cam”. However, we did not learn how expensive the whole dinner was, but we can assume that it was around 5,000 euros. That was the bill paid by Valtteri Bottas in 2024.
“I will tell you that last year it was very nice of Valtteri to decide to take the account,” he said Max Verstappen in the podcast Talking Bull. “The riders then started joking a bit that it was Max’s turn this year. I tell them sure! But I was sitting at the opposite end of the table from the entrance to this private room.”
The Dutchman knows how to strategically choose a place on the track and in a restaurant. “So we had fun for most of the night. Suddenly people started wanting to go when we realized that Pierre had already paid. I was still drinking gin and tonics on the other side!” he laughed.
He wants it next time Verstappen solve differently. “Next time, I’ll probably have to tell them before arriving that I’ll end up pulling the whole thing so I can finally pay.”
Host Nicola Hum joked that when it becomes clear in a year that Verstappen is paying, everyone will just get a glass of clean water and a cheap $40 bill. Verstappen he protested that he is definitely not like that. “No, I’m very generous with things like that. I just didn’t get around to paying, but I’m sure we’ll have another dinner in a year.”
Apparently there will be no drawing of cards from the hat. “No, but I remember it happening when I started — sometime in 2015 or 2016. It looks a bit poor. It’s better if you just have one guy take care of it and, of course, you don’t let a rookie pay for it. That’s obvious. I think you should always start with the most experienced riders.”
