Ahead of the now-cancelled Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, McLaren’s Lando Norris took a shot at George Russell on social media, amusingly recreating his pose from the F1 opening title sequence.
Russell’s pose, with his head down and arms outstretched, went viral earlier this year, as fans and teams shared memes of the driver in various amusing settings.
Standing in the McLaren headquarters, Lando Norris took on the iconic pose on a bridge at the Surrey base.
McLaren shared the photo on social media on Tuesday afternoon with the caption “When @LandoNorris pulls out ‘The Russell.’”
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Mercedes couldn’t help but respond to McLaren’s joke, defending their driver from the rival team’s mockery.
“George Russell. Trendsetter. F1 race winner,” Mercedes tweeted on Tuesday afternoon, sharing the photos of their driver and Norris.
While Norris and Russell have had their fair share of on-track battles, the two drivers have found themselves at different ends of the grid this season, as Mercedes fights for top ten spots, while McLaren is stuck at the back.
Russell has secured a season best of P4 in Saudi Arabia and Miami, while Norris has only secured two top ten finishes, with P6 in Australia and P9 in Azerbaijan.
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Both teams are looking to mount a comeback in the next few weeks, as they roll out upgrades to their cars in a bid to address performance failures.
Heading into round 6 at the legendary Italian circuit, Mercedes is sitting on 96 points in P3 of the Constructors’ Standings, while McLaren is down in P5 with 14 points.
In the Drivers’ Standings, Lewis Hamilton sits in P4 and Russell in P6, while McLaren’s Norris is in P9 and Oscar Piastri is down in P14.