A Williams star has revealed his grandma's surprising favourite driver after a chance encounter at an airport.
Forget fierce rivalries and on-track battles - it seems the biggest competition in F1 might be happening off the circuit entirely, and it involves a rather unexpected contender...
Fans were left chuckling after Williams' Alexander Albon shared a now-viral social media post revealing a hilarious encounter between his grandmother and another F1 star who became her instant favourite.
In a post on X (previously known as Twitter), Albon revealed that his grandma bumped into none other than McLaren's Lando Norris at Narita International Airport in Japan, ahead of this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix.
He posted a photo of the fellow Brit and his grandma along with the corresponding text messages.
"Look who I met at Narita Airport. I just called him and said I am Alex’s grandmom. Achieved one of my dreams.
"Let Alex know so Lando won’t think an old lady just made a claim to take a photo with him."
Albon also commented on the post, saying: "Grandma has a new favorite driver it seems."
With no spare chassis, the team made the difficult call to withdraw Logan Sargeant and hand his car to Albon for the rest of the weekend.
While Albon came close to scoring points, both he and Sargeant will need to push hard in Japan if Williams are to break their point-scoring duck this season.
The team currently occupies P8 in the constructors' championship, level with Stake F1 team and Alpine on zero points.