Max Verstappen reveals fresh details about F1 driver dinner, and that bill

Max Verstappen says he was all ready to pay the bill at Formula 1’s annual driver dinner after the rest of the table joked that this time it was on him, only to learn that Pierre Gasly had already covered it.

As has become tradition, the Formula 1 drivers put aside their rivalries to celebrate an evening of being the only 20 drivers, or in this case 17 of those 20, who race in Formula 1.

Max Verstappen and that driver dinner bill

The drivers, excluding Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll and Nico Hulkenberg, sat down at a restaurant in Abu Dhabi with several of the drivers posting a group photograph on social medial.

“Class of 2025,” Hamilton wrote on Instagram. “We’re the only people in the world to do what we do and for that we’re incredibly lucky.

“I’m grateful for this group of drivers I have the privilege of racing against and even though we’re competitors, there’s nothing but respect and I’m proud to call them friends.

“Hope to give you all a great last race of the season.”

The big question, though, was who picked up the cheque?

While in yesteryear it’s been said, unwritten of course, that it belongs to the World Champion, 2016 Nico Rosberg wanted an 18-way split, while in 2024 Valtteri Bottas paid it as he said a brief farewell to the grid.

This time, the drivers joked, it was Verstappen who had to pay, as on the night he was still the sport’s reigning World Champion.

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But when it came to it and Verstappen finished the last sip of his gin and tonic, he and the rest of the table realised Alpine’s Pierre Gasly had already covered it.

“Well, last year was very nice of Valtteri,” he told the Talking Bulls podcast. “Actually, he took the bill, yeah, so then, well, the drivers are joking a little bit like, ‘This year it’s Max’s turn’.

“I was like, ‘Yeah, sure’.

“But I was sitting on the opposite side of the entrance of the private room. Yeah, so for, like, most of the night, you know, you’re having a laugh, and then suddenly, okay, so many people are wanting to go, and then we realised that Pierre already paid for the dinner.”

Asked if he’d done the old bill arrives and you suddenly need the bathroom maneuver, Verstappen took the ribbing well.

“I was drinking my gin and tonic on the other side,” he explained.

“I guess next time before I enter, I have to tell them that at the end of the night the bill is for me so that I can actually finally pay it.”

Asked if that meant tap water all around, set menu and 40 quid, he replied: “No, I’m normally very generous with these kind of things. So, yeah, I just didn’t get to pay yet.

“But I’m sure that we have another dinner next year.”

Gasly confirmed on Alpine’s social media that he’d picked up the tab.

Asked how the dinner was, he replied: “Expensive.”

Pressed on whether he had paid, he simply said: “Yes.”

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