Lewis Hamilton has jokingly called the F1 driver meal "the most ridiculous thing" he has ever seen after the group attempted to split the bill 17 ways.

F1's drivers caused a social media stir on Wednesday evening when they shared photos of a rare group meal in Shanghai ahead of this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix. The Italian restaurant, called The Kitchen, was picked by the world champion but he had a surprise when the receipt came to the table.

Perhaps stung by Bernie Ecclestone's recent accusation that drivers never pay when he takes them out for dinner, Hamilton's fellow competitors were in no mood to let someone else foot the bill.

"I chose the restaurant, I put the deposit down and then I paid on top of that and we shared the bill," Hamilton explained. "It was a bit ridiculous because everyone was like 'How are we going pay the bill?' and someone said to share it!

"So we had 17 drivers sharing the freaking bill, but it probably wasn't even that expensive. I did say, why don't one or two of us get it now and then next time someone else and then they were like 'No, no, no, I want to pay individually'.

"We all got a receipt. 17 receipts! 17 credit cards! It was the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen, I've never seen anything like it before."

Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo enjoyed the meal, notably the friendly banter between Mercedes teammates and title rivals Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

"We are not very well organized," the Australian said. "But it was good. It was Italian, so we are in China eating Italian! But I am never going to turn down Italian. It was nice. Sure we discussed a little bit of racing but it was more just to catch up and hang out. At the track we talk on driver's parades and a little bit here and there, but a lot of people at the track do not want to associate too much because it race time and they want to be in their zone.

"So each to their own, but I felt that when you are away from the track, no one is in team kit, you are in your own clothes, your own space, and we just talked. I know that I am not the youngest guy in F1 anymore, but hearing some stories from the older guys I still felt quite young at the dinner. It was good, a few good stories were shared.

"I had Lewis, Jenson [Button], Nico Rosberg and Hulkenberg, that was sort of our little group at the end of the table. It was good discussions, a bit of banter between Lewis and Nico. It was all harmless but at the same time you know that are taking a little shot at each other here and there. It was quite good, I enjoyed it."

When asked who had suggested splitting the bill, Hamilton said with a smile: "I'm pretty sure it was Nico!"

While some absentees had various reasons -- such as a Renault PR event for Jolyon Palmer and Kevin Magnussen or a Haas Automation obligation for Romain Grosjean -- the famously stoic Kimi Raikkonen seemed unmoved by missing the meal.

Asked about it in the press conference, the Finn replied: "Bwah... Maybe next time. I don't regret anything. I had my work to do and it goes way forward in front place rather than dinner. You have to ask the people who were there what happened. I was in Taiwan."