Mercedes made a costly error last weekend at the Japanese Grand Prix, which saw their supply of Red Bull cans run dry.
Whilst the Silver Arrows don’t make it public for “obvious reasons”, the side do keep a small stock of Red Bull behind the bar in their hospitality suites, as revealed by an insider.
This normally isn’t a big deal, although that wasn’t the case in Suzuka.
When Lewis Hamilton was giving an interview to the F1 world feed in the team’s hospitality suite, a QR code directly behind the seven-time World Champion was spotted.
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After scanning the code, it was discovered that drinks could be ordered to Mercedes personnel, including Hamilton, George Russell and team principal Toto Wolff.
As a result, several fans of Red Bull ordered the three gentlemen cans of the Austrians energy drink, to the extent that they ran out.
An insider revealed how at first it was a “steady and regular” service, before they were suddenly on the receiving end of “thousands of orders for Red Bull drinks”.
“Everything was steady and regular, serving the Mercedes staff and corporate guests when suddenly, the ordering system went crazy,” an insider told Global247News.
“We were bombarded with thousands of orders for Red Bull drinks. Many appeared to be ordered for Lewis, George Russell and Team Principal Toto Wolff.
“Whilst they are our rivals, we stock Red Bull in the bar, but we only keep small stocks and don’t advertise the fact for obvious reasons.
“As such, we couldn’t complete all the orders,” laughed the insider.
The code was later changed to stop the onslaught of Red Bull orders.
The team supposedly saw the funny side, although their on-track performance was certainly no laughing matter.
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Once again, Mercedes were considerably slower than the Milton Keynes-based team, who secured the Constructors’ Championship following Max Verstappen’s 13th win of 2023.
Hamilton had to settle for fifth whilst Russell finished seventh, with the German side having been a worrying fourth in the pecking order.
They now only lead Ferrari by 20 points in the fight for second in the Constructors’ Championship, something which looks set to go all the way to Abu Dhabi.