Watch: Lando Norris and George Russell laugh uncontrollably during pre-race national anthem due to a peculiar reason

Lando Norris and George Russell were spotted laughing uncontrollably during the pre-race national anthem at the 2025 Azerbaijan GP. The peculiar incident took place as the pair stood behind the grid kids, who were singing Azerbaijan's national anthem with great enthusiasm.

At every Grand Prix weekend, mere minutes before the race, the national anthem of the host country is played at the track. During this, drivers stand alongside each other, who are accompanied by the grid kids for the same, who are often junior series or karting drivers from the same country.

So, during the Azerbaijan GP weekend, the usual pre-race national anthem was going on, when Russell and Norris broke into laughter, hearing the passionately sung national anthem by the young kids standing in front of them:

Moreover, they weren't the only ones, as Oscar Piastri could also be seen holding back his smile during the national anthem, all while George Russell and Lando Norris were finding the incident hysterical.

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George Russell and Lando Norris had very different endings to their 2025 Azerbaijan GP

McLaren's Lando Norris (L) and Mercedes' George Russell (R) at the 2025 F1 Grand Prix of Hungary - Source: Getty

Though Lando Norris and George Russell were having fun before the race started, the 51 laps around the Baku City Circuit saw them both race in seemingly different leagues.

Despite getting bogged down in the field after having a close call with Kimi Antonelli on the opening lap, Russell made his way through the pack and finished P2 at the race. Reflecting on his weekend altogether and congratulating Carlos Sainz for his podium, he said (via F1's official website):

"I am really happy to be back on the podium. It’s been a tough run of races recently and I also have not felt well this weekend. That made today even more challenging than it could have been, so I am very pleased to finish P2. I was pretty glad when I saw the chequered flag! Congratulations to Carlos (Sainz) and Williams too. That was a very well-deserved result for them."

On the other hand, Lando Norris suffered a torrid race as he started the race down in seventh. Despite his attempts to get past Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson, a slow pit stop ruined his plan, leading him to finish in the same position as where he started. Sharing his thoughts on the race, the McLaren driver said (via McLaren):

"A tricky race and a tricky weekend overall. Today the pace was okay, but not enough to overtake. After not doing a good enough job yesterday, and a lack of real strategy options today, there wasn't much more we could have done. Frustrating and not how I wanted the weekend to go, but we'll get our heads down now and look ahead to Singapore."

This was Russell's seventh podium of the 2025 season, while Baku was the second race since Saudi Arabia, where Norris took the chequered flag of the podium.