Max Verstappen offered Oscar Piastri seemingly sage advice in unusual circumstances following qualifying for the Dutch Grand Prix.
In the post-qualifying FIA press conference, attended by the top three, with Lando Norris joining McLaren team-mate and pole-sitter Piastri, alongside third-on-the-grid Verstappen, the McLaren drivers, in particular, were posed an unusual question.
A journalist referred to the fact that a pub quiz had been held in the McLaren paddock motorhome on Friday evening, and decided to pose one of the questions to the drivers that had been aired that night.
Piastri and Norris were asked who won the 1985 Dutch Grand Prix, the last to be held at Zandvoort before it dropped off the F1 calendar for 35 years, who was second, and who was 10th.
Piastri was initially nonplussed as he picked up his microphone to answer. So Verstappen came to his aid.
Off-mic, but just audible, the four-time F1 champion, in typical style, told Piastri exactly what to say.
"Just say you don't care, and leave it at that." It was a comment that made Piastri laugh at least.
In fairness to the Australian, he gamely soldiered on, wracking his brains to remember.
"I’ve got to take a wild guess," replied Piastri eventually. "Was it Niki Lauda that won the race?" Piastri was stunned when told it was.
Verstappen then picked up the baton as 'quizmaster', asking Piastri who was on pole, to which he replied: "I don’t think it was Niki on pole."
Verstappen at least provided Piastri with a clue. "I know him."
"You know him?" responded Piastri. "Okay, that makes it easy. Nelson Piquet."
Piastri then gave up in search of the other positions, at which point Norris was offered the chance to step in.
"I don’t care," said Norris, with a smile, clearly taking Verstappen's advice from earlier.
When Verstappen himself was pushed, he took his own words on board. "I couldn’t care less," he said. "It’s not my problem."
Unsurprisingly, the quirky but amusing ending to the press conference brought it to a grinding halt as all three drivers made their exits.
Lauda's victory would ultimately prove to be his 25th and final in F1, with Alain Prost finishing second in a McLaren one-two, with Ayrton Senna third for Lotus.
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