Uninvited F1 paddock guest evicted at Azerbaijan Grand Prix

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Uninvited F1 paddock guest evicted at Azerbaijan Grand Prix

The race weekend in Baku got off to a crazy start

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Friday 19 September 2025 20:53

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A new star was born ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after an uninvited guest snuck into the F1 paddock.

We’re used to seeing all manner of posers in the paddock during a race weekend (ahem, Leo Leclerc), but a Baku resident took things to new heights on Thursday, when they were spotted outside of Mercedes’ hospitality.

So, who broke into the F1 paddock? An overzealous member of the tifosi? A wannabe influencer trying to boost their social media following?

Article continues under video

No, and no. In fact, the uninvited guest possesses more guile and sense of entitlement than any of the above - a Baku tabby cat!

The feline freeloader was pictured lounging on the AstroTurf outside of Mercedes, looking up at the camera, as if to say: “Yeah? What are you gonna do about this, huh?”

It wasn’t long before the lenses of paddock photographers were thrust in the cat’s face...and they were loving the attention, booping the camera and accepting a scratch from just about anyone passing by.

However, F1 remains committed to equality and fairness, and they’ll be damned if anyone, regardless of species, enters the paddock without paying for a pass.

Instead, the poor cat was gathered in the arms of a track worker and promptly evicted (probably for the cat’s own safety to be fair), without so much as a signed cap from Max Verstappen.

Of course, we can expect the Baku tabby cat to appear at the next race weekend as a special guest of McLaren’s, either doing hot laps with Lando Norris or being subjected to a grid walk interview with Martin Brundle.

Baku paddock cat goes viral

The cat even enjoyed their 30-seconds of fame on X, where F1 fans were, as ever, on hand to supply some humour.

Four-time world champion Max Verstappen is famously a cat lover, owning two Bengal cats called Jimmy and Sassy, alongside Donatello, and once broke down a door in his house with a hammer to rescue his cat (something that only seems rational and understandable if you are also a cat owner).

Aware of Verstappen’s love for cats, one user posted a picture of the Baku cat, and wrote: “Somebody get this baby to Max?!!!!”

Another made light of the fact the cat posed outside the Mercedes hospitality unit, and wrote: “Mercedes really be trying everything to get Max's attention.”

Sharing a picture of the cat playing with a McLaren employee’s paddock pass, a third fan joked: “There's a cat in the paddock someone tell cat mother Max Verstappen.”

Unfortunately, at time of writing, there is no photographic evidence that Verstappen met the cat prior to their eviction.

PADDOCK CLUB GUEST EVICTED

This fluffy feline was found in the Paddock Club without a pass today and was promptly evicted by a track worker. This circuit is somewhat famous for its cats, there are plenty around the paddock, and in past years a few have even made it onto the… pic.twitter.com/lqE2GXx9aK
— Kym Illman (@KymIllman) September 18, 2025