Lando Norris joined his good friend Max Verstappen on the podium for the second weekend in a row at the Hungarian GP. However, this time, Norris’ actions on the podium led to a bizarre moment, as his champagne celebrations led to Verstappen’s winning trophy getting shattered into pieces. Even more interestingly, a fan predicted this would happen two years ago.
Verstappen started the race from P2, and for the first time in a long time, people were doubting his chances. However, these doubts were evaporated just a few seconds into the race, with Verstappen taking the lead from Lewis Hamilton and never looking back since.
McLaren, who have made major strides over the last few weeks was also incredibly strong in Hungary. Lando Norris fought hard and managed to get his second consecutive P2, to share the podium celebrations with Verstappen once again. However, Norris’ style of celebrating on the podium, by slamming his champagne bottle on the ground before spraying it everywhere, was always seen as risky. In Silverstone, he nearly broke his own trophy but this time in Hungary, he ended up shattering Verstappen’s winning prize into pieces.
Lando Norris smashes Max Verstappen’s trophy
As soon as Norris slammed the champagne on the podium, Verstappen’s trophy which was right next to it, fell onto the ground. On first thoughts, it doesn’t seem like that big a deal. But when one realizes that it is a valuable piece of memorabilia, this accident seems fairly significant.
According to Sándor Mészáros, a reputed F1 journalist, the trophy costs $40,000 and takes about a year to make. Herend have been manufacturers of porcelain products for over 200 years and in the past, the wealthiest aristocrats of the society used to buy them. In fact, it is reported by Queen Victoria of England herself, had some of these in her possession.
Some rumors on Twitter also answered questions regarding whether Verstappen will get a replacement or not. Realistically, however, considering its cost and how much time it takes to make one, Verstappen won’t be getting a replacement for at least six months.
Fan predicted Norris breaking $30,000 trophy two years ago
Shockingly, on Reddit, an old comment was unearthed. Below a post concerning these beautiful Hungarian GP trophies, a fan predicted that Norris would go on to break it in the future.
“Dropped and shattered immediately by Lando,” the user wrote. This is particularly surprising, as it was likely said as a joke back in the day. But now that Norris has shattered the trophy, this prediction is eerie in its own way.
Norris and McLaren immediately apologized to Verstappen and Red Bull. Thankfully it seems that the latter two parties have taken this very well, as they continue to banter about this incident on social media.
