Daniel Ricciardo's popular victory in Malaysia meant the return of the shoey -- but it had a mixed reaction from the Australian's victims on the podium.
Earlier this season, Ricciardo celebrated a podium in Germany by drinking champagne from his race boot -- something done by Australian Moto GP race winner Jack Miller at Assen and copied by Valentino Rossi last month. Ricciardo had promised to reserve the celebration exclusively for victories, meaning it made a glorious comeback on the Sepang podium.
After swigging champagne from his own boot, Ricciardo turned bartender, helping it down the throat of teammate Max Verstappen, Nico Rosberg and Red Bull boss Christian Horner. Rosberg, especially, looked very unimpressed with the taste, while fellow Australian Mark Webber was in no mood to join in the champagne chugging contest, throwing Ricciardo's boot into the crowd before beginning the podium interviews.
"I haven't made many friends from this, actually!" Ricciardo joked in the press conference. "I love the taste, personally! I thought today it was quite fruity.
"It was sort of like a dessert, rather than a main course! I don't know what these boys thought -- Nico told me he didn't like it very much!"
When Rosberg, sitting alongside Ricciardo in the press conference, was asked if he liked the taste, the championship leader grimaced.
"I hope he does not win any more races this year," Rosberg said, prompting a laugh from Ricciardo.
Verstappen then added: "It was alright, actually. It was good sweat."
Horner joked that he was more concerned with the health of his driver than the taste of the champagne.
"I just hope he doesn't have any shoe ailments like athlete's foot or verruca! I'm not a big fan of champagne but drinking out of a sweaty boot...."
Horner laughed and then added: "Though I was slightly more impressed than Nico Rosberg!"