A friendly space hopper race between McLaren racers descended into chaos when Daniel Ricciardo walloped Lando Norris in the face with his bouncy ball.
Those packed into the stand alongside the home straight at Silverstone on Thursday were left in stitches as they watched the two McLaren drivers face off in an unorthodox race. Ricciardo and Norris were each given a large space hopper to compete with in an event set up by broadcaster Sky Sports.
Commentator David Croft was presenting when the space hoppers were produced and handed to the McLaren racers, who looked puzzled but accepted the challenge. The race almost ended in disaster before it had even begun, as Norris slipped and almost fell backwards.
But he regained his balance and the hopping mad race was able to begin – but neither had reached the finish line when the moment of madness came. Despite some early attempts from Norris to sabotage his team-mate, Ricciardo took an early lead and looked set to cruise to victory.
Norris, clearly aware he was going to lose, proceeded to pick up his space hopper and simply run to the finish line. Ricciardo, who had been showboating for the crowd, spotted the cheating from his team-mate and proceeded to throw his space hopper – hitting the Brit square in the face.
Croft, along with those in the stand, couldn't help but laugh as Ricciardo rushed after his team-mate to check no damage had been done, while struggling to hold back the mirth himself. Norris also saw the funny side, struggling to hide his grin as he tried to cover his face.
"I can't see!" shouted Norris as Ricciardo managed to say "sorry" between giggles. A replay got the laughter going again, before Ricciardo said: "You know when you do something and you realise you probably shouldn't have done it? It was too late."
There were more shenanigans at play when the Ferrari drivers came out to take on the same challenge. Neither Charles Leclerc nor Carlos Sainz were hit in the face, but both cheated by running to overtake the other before the Spaniard, who finished second, kicked the space hopper at his team-mate.
Neither result mattered anywhere near as much as the engine-powered action that will take place on the track this weekend, though.
Ferrari are bidding to get back to winning ways after ceding significant ground to Red Bull and Max Verstappen in recent weeks, while McLaren will look to score points again after a race to forget last time out in Canada.
