14/04/2016
NEWS STORY
Lewis Hamilton has admitted that he was stunned when it came to time to pay for the meal at which 18 F1 drivers sat down together.
News of the meal first came to light on social media - where else! - when Nico Rosberg posted a selfie of his infamous dining companions. Shortly after his colleagues also took to Twitter to share their thoughts.
Naturally, when Hamilton met the media in Shanghai today, the 'fast supper' was one of the main talking points.
The venue was an Italian called The Kitchen, and was chosen by Hamilton. However, it was the revelation that each of the drivers opted to pay his own way that raised eyebrows.
According to the world champion he offered to foot the bill - after all he's on a decent whack and F1 drivers have to count every calorie - however, when the bill arrived everyone reached for their credit card as they divided the bill by eighteen.
"It was a little bit silly really, ridiculous because someone said: 'Let's share the bill', so eighteen F1 drivers shared a bill which is just insane," he said. "It probably wasn't really that expensive.
"I said: 'Why don't I just get it now, or two of us get it now, and then the next time someone else gets it?' And they are like: 'No, no, no. I want to pay individually'.
"We all got a receipt, eighteen receipts, eighteen credit cards, it was the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. I have never seen anything like that before."
When asked who suggested splitting the bill, Hamilton grinned and said: "I am pretty sure it was Nico."
However, when asked if this was true, Rosberg replied: "Really? That's interesting. From what I can remember, the hidden agreement usually is that the world champion pays, but that might just be my opinion."
One of the four drivers not present was Kimi Raikkonen, who was on duty for Ferrari in Taiwan. Asked if he regretted missing out on the dinner, he replied: "I don't regret anything. I had my work to do and it goes way forward in front place rather than dinner. You have to ask the people who were there what happened. I was in Taiwan."
"I didn't go," added Kevin Magnussen. "I went to a nightclub with Renault."
Certainly gives a whole new meaning to pay drivers.
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