F1 drivers Valtteri Bottas and George Russell have set tongues wagging by deleting their team names from their Instagram accounts.
Having teamed up for Mercedes at the Sakhir Grand Prix on the weekend, in the coronavirus-enforced absence of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, Bottas and Russell are under massive scrutiny.
While Bottas placed ahead of Russell in a diabolical race for the team, finishing eighth and ninth, the on-loan Williams driver was considered to have outperformed the veteran and might have won but for bad luck.
Bottas was perturbed by the outcome - and fans soon spotted that 'Mercedes' no longer featured on his Instagram bio. It was also realised that 'Williams' was no longer mentioned in Russell's bio - leading to speculation that Mercedes might be rethinking its driver line-up for 2021.
Mercedes had fun with the social media furore, changing its own official Instagram page to say: "It's just an Instagram bio. Don't overthink it" - with a winking emoji.
Bottas is contracted at Mercedes and Russell at Williams for next season but the 22-year-old Briton has been branded a "star" by Silver Arrows boss Toto Wolff. The Mercedes principal also suggested that Russell was only at the start of his journey with the team.
"It's just the beginning of a fairytale that didn't work out today and I will say a new star is born," Wolff said.
Russell had also indicated that he expected his partnership with Mercedes to resume. It had been widely tipped for that to occur in 2022 but now questions are being asked about next season.
"I'm absolutely gutted but we'll get this opportunity again. I hope we get this opportunity again," Russell said post-race over team radio.
Meanwhile, there were also some social media hijinks from the brother of Sakhir GP winner Sergio Perez, who claimed his maiden F1 victory in his 190th race.
Perez is fourth in the driver standings yet won't drive with his Racing Point team next year. The last available lifeline may be Alex Albon's seat at Red Bull - so his brother thought that he'd take an opportune picture with Perez's winner's trophy.
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