Valtteri Bottas took a playful dig at George Russell ahead of the French Grand Pric last weekend in response to the Twitter trend in the week prior.
Fans on social media started posting memes about the Mercedes driver, joking about the things they would expect someone like him to do.
Quintessentially British, it was suggested that he slaps his thighs and says ‘right then,’ before he gets up and leaves a room, and acts surprised when someone is handing out biscuits.
Ryanair even got involved in the trend by saying that he is the type of guy who would “clap when the plane lands,” and “run the British Airways social media accounts.”
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It got so big that the 24-year-old recorded a video with his Mercedes team reacting to the memes that dozens of fans had posted about him.
The other drivers were asked about the trend in the media pen ahead of the weekend in Le Castellet – Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon were among those to get involved.
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“George Russell is the kind of guy who selfishly has two first names,” said Ricciardo, with Alex Albon describing him as the “kind of guy who takes his top off during a security check in an airport,” referring to the copious amount of topless pictures Russell has posted online.
Kevin Magnussen is generally not as involved in social media as a lot of his colleagues, so he had no clue what was going on, but Bottas made a sly comment about his crash with his successor at Mercedes during last year’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
The Finn described Russell as the kind of guy to try to “overtake in damp conditions at the end of the main straight in Imola.”
Russell went on to finish on the podium in France behind Sir Lewis Hamilton in second as both Mercedes drivers appeared on the rostrum for the first time this season.