{"id":300671,"date":"2023-11-27T12:24:41","date_gmt":"2023-11-27T12:24:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?p=300671"},"modified":"2023-11-27T12:24:41","modified_gmt":"2023-11-27T12:24:41","slug":"max-verstappen-and-sergio-perez-among-drivers-absent-from-post-season-meal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/racing\/f1\/max-verstappen-and-sergio-perez-among-drivers-absent-from-post-season-meal\/","title":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez among drivers absent from post-season meal"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Red Bull duo Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez were among seven drivers who appeared to be absent from the traditional post-season driver meal in Abu Dhabi. Fans were treated to a picture of the grid enjoying each other\u2019s company after Zhou Guanyu uploaded the snap to his Instagram page after Sunday\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

11 different drivers were present in the photo posted by Zhou, who was pictured sitting on the right-hand side of the table along with team-mate Valtteri Bottas as well as Yuki Tsunoda, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.<\/p>\n

Six drivers were on the opposite side with Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly, Carlos Sainz, George Russell, Alex Albon and Daniel Ricciardo making up the remainder of the attendees. While only 11 of the grid were captured in the shot, video evidence later appeared on social media proving that the McLaren duo of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were also in attendance.<\/p>\n

This meant that seven drivers were unaccounted for at the meal, including the Red Bull pairing of Verstappen and Perez. The other five drivers who were not spotted at the Hakkasan restaurant in Abu Dhabi were the two Haas drivers, Logan Sargeant, Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso.<\/p>\n

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The 2023 edition of the post-season meal was held in the same restaurant as last year\u2019s, which seemingly produced a much stronger turnout as the drivers gave four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel a memorable sign-off at the end of his F1 career.<\/p>\n

In 2022 it was confirmed that Hamilton organised and paid for the entire grid\u2019s meal with Alex Albon offering a peek behind the curtain. “We had a set menu,\u201d he explained. \u201cThere were a lot of people with dietary requirements like obviously, Lewis Hamilton is vegan.<\/p>\n

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