Russell hilariously quipped Piastri after near-crash with Norris

Although fans were loudly hoping for a wheel-to-wheel battle between the two McLarens for the win, the final outcome didn’t quite deliver on that expectation.

Credit goes to Lando Norris, who managed his tyres brilliantly and made the one-stop strategy work to perfection, while Oscar Piastri made a tentative attempt to dive down the inside at Turn 1 on the penultimate lap — but couldn’t make it stick.

A keen observer of the McLaren battle — albeit from a distance — was George Russell.

The British driver once again managed to extract the maximum from his car after a tough run of races for Mercedes, bringing the W16 back onto the podium, helped in part by the chassis issues Charles Leclerc experienced from mid-race onwards.

The British driver then stole the show in the cooldown room after the Grand Prix. While rewatching the race highlights — including the close moment between the two Papaya drivers — Russell took a jab that was as subtle as it was brutal, albeit clearly in a joking tone.

"Why didn’t you T-bone him?" he ironically asked, referring to Piastri. "That would have been great.''

The question triggered laughter from the two McLaren drivers, and the moment between the three quickly went viral on social media.