FORMULA ONE fans are used to seeing politicians and businessmen hand out trophies on the podium but the Styrian Grand Prix presentation was carried out by actual ROBOTS.
Viewers joked that the plinths which dawdled over for Lewis Hamilton to collect his prize on Sunday were still faster than Ferrari.
Lewis Hamilton collected his Red Bull Ring trophy from the robot platformCredit: Getty Images – Getty
The moment was part of the changed podium ceremony due to coronavirusCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Due to coronavirus restrictions, F1 has devised a new way of delivering trophies that limits drivers’ contact with other humans.
After the three fastest racers were forced to walk up to the trophy stand themselves for the season opener, the weekend’s Styrian GP saw an alternative method introduced.
Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen waited patiently as robotic plinths were driven over to each of them via remote control.
And there were plenty of fans joking online that the Star Wars-esque vehicles would still have beaten the unfortunate Ferraris in a race.
Twitter user Heather joked: “These robots are faster than Ferrari.”
While another added: “And they didn‘t crash.”
Lena added: “I love them.”
Neither Sebastian Vettel nor Charles Leclerc made it past the first couple of laps on Sunday, after the Monaco-born youngster crashed into his Ferrari teammate.
It followed a miserable start to the season in Austria with both cars severely lacking in pace.
Amid the busy start to the F1 season, following a long delay due to the pandemic, fans were even keen to see the robots go head-to-head.
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The F1 official account tweeted: “Who else wants to see them race?”
JB joked on Twitter: “Robot Grosjean into the wall on turn 1.”
One viewer remarked: “Race against the most expensive lawnmower sf1000? That will be awesome.”
However Chris replied: “But then we’d need more podium robots to present the trophies for the winners of the podium robot race. But then we’d want them to race too. It’s a tragic cycle.”
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Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
