There are few things better than rounding up a bunch of mates for a festive dinner, although the evening can sometimes go south when the bill arrives.

Some want to pay just for what they had, others want to split the bill equally, there’s always one person who just happens to be outside smoking when it all goes down – but surely it’s different when the table is stacked with millionaires?

Not so with Formula One drivers it appears, a dinner ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix resulting in the bill being split 17 ways. Here’s Wheels24:

World champion Lewis Hamilton, who last year signed a new three-year deal with Mercedes worth $140 million, chose the venue for Wednesday’s bash and paid the deposit, but he claims team mate Nico Rosberg insisted on going Dutch when the bill arrived.

Hamilton told reporters: “We shared the bill, which was a little bit silly really. Someone said let’s just share the bill and 17 drivers shared the fricking bill, which is insane.

“It probably wasn’t that expensive so I was like ‘one or two of us should get it now and the next time someone else get it’ and then it was ‘no, no, no, I wanna pay individually.”

Asked who had opted to split the bill, Hamilton replied mischievously: “I’m pretty sure it was Nico!”

That would be team-mate Nico Rosberg, with whom he shares a rather complicated relationship. He had his own views on the bill splitting:

“Interesting. From what I can remember the hidden agreement usually is that the world champion pays. But that might just be my opinion.”

Come on guys, cards in the middle and someone pay the bill OK?!

[source:news24]