F1’s Secret Santa made one driver vow to destroy his present (Image: Getty/YouTube/F1)
After spending 24 races valiantly battling each other on five continents, it’s only right that Formula One drivers engage in some festive activities to keep relations friendly in the paddock.
One of the most popular recent traditions has seen the majority of the 20 drivers take part in Secret Santa, where people buy each other gifts without knowing who it came from.
So, how well do they actually know each other away from the racetrack? As part of their annual end-of-season media activities, the F1 TV team sat down with 14 drivers to find out which presents they got from under the tree.
Here’s a breakdown of what every F1 driver received – with one racer even threatening to ‘destroy’ his present.
Disclaimer: According to the footage, , , , , and did not take part.
Russell received a custom-made pamphlet with the cover reading: ‘So you want to be a model? Find out what the agents and scouts are really looking for’.
The 26-year-old joked that he’s already well-versed in the modelling world, telling the interviewer: “Well we don’t need this one, do we?”
After incorrectly guessing as the man behind the guide, it was revealed that new boy had put it together. Russell responded by claiming he would read the book “all the way” on the plane home from Abu Dhabi.
George Russell joked he didn’t need any advice or modelling tips (Image: Getty)
Liam Lawson
Lawson claimed he could’ve guessed his present before unwrapping, as he got his hands on a replica toy model of the Lightning McQueen stock car from his favourite movie ‘Cars’.
The remote-controlled car came with Lightning McQueen stickers and Lawson began to inspect the car itself, pointing out its “quite cool” features including actual rubber tyres, just like his vehicle.
But the 22-year-old had trouble guessing which one of his fellow drivers got him the gift as he claimed “so many” of his colleagues knew of his passion for the Disney movie.
He didn’t hesitate to guess first, though, and beamed with a huge grin after learning it was Piastri. “That’s a really thoughtful gift man, thank you so much. I actually really like it!” Lawson said.
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. Read our Privacy Policy
Oscar Piastri
Opening up a giant F1-branded envelope, Piastri couldn’t help but crack a smile when he learned he had got padel lesson coupons.
“I’m going to guess that’s from none other than ,” Piastri said, and he was spot on. The star added: “He’s always handing rubbish, I would say… about my padel skills, which are better than Alex’s by the way!”
Piastri looked fairly chuffed with the gift and pledged to use the lessons, taking a video of the results from his training session.
Alex Albon’s panda helmet, worn at the Chinese Grand Prix, has proved popular (Image: Getty)
The Williams driver was unimpressed with the wrapping efforts by his fellow F1 racer, claiming it was ‘cheap’ packaging and seemingly looked disappointed with the effort.
His mood changed when he ripped open the package to reveal a stuffed panda toy. Straight away, the Thai-British driver had one suspect in mind for his Secret Santa.
“I immediately went to Zhou,” Albon said. “My opinion has gone up of him, obviously he’s from China and there’s a big affiliation with pandas in China.”
But he was stunned to find out that Valtteri Bottas had actually got him the toy, along with a limited edition ‘Peachy Christmas’ postcard, appearing to show Bottas in the nude. To which he hilariously said: “Thank you Valtteri. Whenever I take my driver helmet off, I’m going to be thinking of your butt!”
Valtteri Bottas
Unlike Albon, Bottas was a fan of how his present was wrapped as the Finn – wearing a green santa hat – excitedly ripped apart the paper.
Inside was a book on training for triathlons, which may be somewhat moot considering that the returning reserve driver recently completed an Ironman event in Australia. More useful, however, was a pair of swimming goggles to match Sauber’s luminous green colour scheme for 2024.
Bottas took a punt on Russell as his first guess and joked the goggles reminded him of his Silver Arrows team-mate. Instead, it turned out to be .
Valtteri Bottas shows off his luminous green goggles (Image: YouTube/F1)
Looking like a young boy on Christmas morning, Ocon was grinning from ear to ear as the new Haas man complimented his Santa on their wrapping skills.
“Someone knows me well,” Ocon said, as he revealed to the camera that he had got a drift RC car. Naturally, having earned millions from his F1 career, Ocon could tell it was “low budget, low quality”.
The Frenchman seemed quite content with the gift though and vowed to hand it down to a younger member of his family over the festive period.
After correctly guessing ‘s had got him the gift, he replied: “Thank you Charles, you’ve done well! You know me well, obviously I’m a radio-control freak. I love it!”
Charles Leclerc is regularly seen with his tiny dog, Leo, in the paddock (Image: Getty)
Charles Leclerc
Leclerc was left stumped by the handwriting on his present and dived straight in.
The Monegasque was pleasantly surprised to open a squishy toy for his cherished dog, Leo, but couldn’t figure out which driver had kindly thought of his furry companion when getting the gift.
“Leo will absolutely love it,” a chuffed Leclerc said, before it was revealed that had got the toy for his precious pooch.
After spending four years with the Italian-based team, Tsunoda is no stranger to the importance of coffee in their culture.
The Japanese opened up his present to find a thermal cup, which he appeared to rate highly: “A very nice coffee cup!” Tsunoda said. To his shock, it wasn’t a pack of coffee inside but some matcha powder, which when combined with water makes a leafy green tea beverage.
That gave the game away as matcha is a popular South American delicacy and Tsunoda didn’t take long to guess Franco Colapinto was behind it.
Franco Colapinto joked he would ‘destroy’ his present from Carlos Sainz (Image: YouTube/F1)
Franco Colapinto
The Argentinian but he still got the chance to unpack his present, although it’s fair to say it won’t be sticking around for too long.
Colapinto believed he would be receiving a gift from his “fellow Latino” , who will also be his successor at Williams from 2025
“What is this?” a confused Colapinto asked, before being told it was modelling clay. The 21-year-old proved to be quite the detective, noticing it was bought in Qatar at the last minute.
Fascinated with the additional colouring pencils included the package, the driver began making plans to build his own Williams car: “I’m going to spend the weekend trying to put this together. And what I hope is to destroy it on Sunday!”
After receiving a gift from Colapinto the shape of a poorly-constructed clay Williams model, Sainz would be hoping for something better in the Secret Santa.
“Oh my, of course I already know what this is,” Sainz said, almost disappointingly, as he pulled out a fancy dress costume. “This will be my outfit for Halloween next year.”
The Spaniard has a thing for chilis, which is well known throughout the paddock, making it that extra bit harder to guess the identity of his gifter.
The 30-year-old cycled through all of the rookies before finally landing on . And he promised to take a picture in his new outfit if the Chinese driver scored points before the end of the season. And after his heroic P8 finish in Qatar, the first thing Zhou did was head to the garage to dress Sainz in his full-size costume.
Carlos Sainz donned his chili outfit for Zhou Guanyu at the Qatar GP (Image: YouTube/F1)
Much like your distant relative at Christmas, Zhou did his best to sound impressed: “My god, this is beautiful! Holy moly, that’s lovely!”
To say Zhou was stunned by his present was an understatement as the Sauber star – making his final F1 Secret Santa appearance – pulled out a huge cat print cushion.
Zhou received a 2024 calendar splashed with Valtteri Bottas’ behind all over it last year. Suffice to say, the cat-lover was much happier with this year’s effort from Norris.
“If that’s from Lando, I’m really proud of his choice… especially after last year,” he added.
Dud of the day might have gone to Norris when he was handed a rather thin package, which he initially guessed to be just wrapping paper.
When it was suggested it could be an autograph from his favourite F1 driver, he moodily said: “I don’t have one, so impossible.”
Just like his garage neighbour Piastri, Norris opened up the envelope to find padel lessons awaiting him. But the Briton was decidedly unmoved, claiming that only Stroll and Fernando Alonso were better than him and he would be offended if it was from another driver.
After being told it was Russell, he hit back: “I beat him at padel the other day! Put it back in here and return to sender.”
Lando Norris claims he’s a better padel player than George Russell (Image: Getty)
Padel proved to be a popular theme amongst the drivers as Alpine driver Gasly revealed a sport-style T-shirt from one of his gridmates.
“I guess it’s pretty obvious [who it is], I love padel. A nice touch,” Gasly quipped. After incorrectly guessing Russell and , it was third time lucky for the Frenchman as he picked Stroll.
It was only two years ago that Stroll gifted him a padel racket. And he laid down the challenge to take him on while wearing his new gear, the pair are planning a first encounter on the court.
Stroll was the next driver to tear apart his Christmas parcel – and he looked decidedly unimpressed. The Canadian opened up the package to find a football shirt of the National League outfit FC Versailles, which somewhat narrowed down the choices.
When asked if he had any ideas, Stroll said: “Someone French? Esteban?”
The Aston Martin man wasn’t far off, as it was revealed – who invested in the third-tier club in 2023 – would be sending him a personalised shirt in the post.