They were both beyond cringe, IMHO.
In this case, MBS came in from behind with Norris completely unaware, which startled him. The look on Max' face tells a lot about the level of awkwardness!
Besides that, MBS is probably simply more disliked as he has done some pretty bad things in his presidency.
This wasn't about Arab vs European.
It was MBS, Domenicali came in after that, hugging Norris. It was hard to see, as only a hand reached out for Norris' hair from besides the camera, but MBS was recognizable in the mirror when the camera panned away.
Edit: YouTube clip
Seems like you're right!
I just looked up some previous finishes, and indeed also two flags! It just never registered with me until now. Thanks!
Top one seems to me like MBS himself! He also came into the cool down area to weirdly grab Norris' hair!
Edit:
After not noticing until this race and being informed in the comments, I decided to find out what's behind this phenomenon.
Here's an article about it.
I also wanted to know when those double chequered flags started, so I had a look at both 2025 and 2024 race finishes, and as far as I could determine, the first time this occurred was at Abu Dhabi 2024. Every other race in 2024 looked to only have the official flag.
Diamanda Galás
Making the Devil shit himself.