The viral footage has drawn largely critical responses on Malaysian social media.

However, there were also others who chimed in to remind people that this was a non-issue as he was not consuming the alcohol and that it was something that could be commonly found in everyday objects such as perfume.

Political condemnation

The youth wing of Malaysia's political party Bersatu has since issued a statement condemning the act, calling it insensitive for a Malay Muslim leader representing a government-linked company to participate in an alcohol-related celebration.

A youth wing leader said the act appeared to normalise alcohol use at official events involving government-linked corporations (GLCs).

He noted that the champagne used was Moët & Chandon, the official Formula 1 celebratory drink containing 12 per cent alcohol.

“As a Malay Muslim corporate leader representing Petronas, he should have left the podium during the champagne spraying event and returned afterwards to take pictures with the winners.”

He added that while Armada was proud of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas team’s victory, the group found the champagne shower “embarrassing for the country,” especially as several other Muslim-majority nations such as Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are also active participants in Formula 1.

The youth group urged the Prime Minister to issue a warning to all ministries, government agencies, and GLCs to uphold Malaysia’s position as a Muslim-majority nation.

Official statement

In Formula 1, the champagne spray has been a long-standing tradition used to celebrate the top three finishers.

In recent years, some races hosted in Muslim-majority countries have opted to use non-alcoholic sparkling drinks in place of champagne to respect local customs.

While F1 has since partnered with French Bloom, which is its official non-alcoholic wine brand, the champagne sprayed on the Singapore podium is understood to have been the alcoholic Moët & Chandon champagne.

As of press time, Petronas and Tengku Taufik have not issued a public statement on the matter.

Top image via pirelliusa/Instagram, beINSPORTSAsia/Youtube

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