Want to meet Mercedes F1 team drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton? This travel rewards programme gives you a chance to

George Russell walks into the lobby lounge of The Ritz-Carlton, Melbourne. The Mercedes F1 driver is all smiles ahead of the Australian Grand Prix that coming April weekend. He makes his way through the crowd, taking the time to shake hands, pose for pictures and pause to chat briefly with each of us. All the while, exuding a ’90s boyband aura about him.

The 25-year-old Brit is a good-looking chap, working the room with the charisma of a lad only casually aware of his celebrity. And handsomeness. And we are about to have dinner with him. But first, we watch Russell gamely attempt to flip roti prata dough.  He fails miserably, despite a quick tutorial from the hotel’s culinary team, and shows off the final product – his roti looks like a pair of ladies undies. We all have a good laugh as our phone cameras lap it up. Maybe stick to racing, George.

This bit of pre-dinner entertainment was part of a very exclusive experience organised by Marriott Bonvoy, Marriott International’s travel programme, and members can bid for such ‘Marriott Bonvoy Moments’ with points accumulated through stays at hotels and resorts in the Marriott portfolio around the world, as well as through purchases with co-branded credit cards.

Members earn up to 10 points per US$1 (S$1.35) spent on qualifying charges, and there were 1,300 bids and over seven million points redeemed for the Australian race weekend packages in collaboration with the Mercedes team, according to a Marriott spokesperson.

It’s a special relationship, this. Between Marriott and the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One team – one with roots tracing back to 2012, when the Mercedes team first partnered up with the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG)