F1 Secret Santa: Drivers reveal mystery gifts they have received from the grid

The annual F1 driver Secret Santa has taken place, with the results including the likes of Mick Schumacher now having adopted a lion, and Max Verstappen now has plenty of Charles Leclerc’s face to look at.

F1 released their Secret Santa video on their official YouTube channel ahead of Christmas, with the drivers assigned a different one of their colleagues to buy presents for each year.

Highlights included Verstappen being given a copy of the F1 22 video game by World Championship runner-up Leclerc, though the cover has been edited to feature multiple editions of the Ferrari driver on the front – perhaps a handy reminder of seeing plenty of him in his mirrors this season.

There was a particularly thoughtful present given to Pierre Gasly, who was gifted a specific Cotswolds Edition of the ever-popular board game Monopoly, to help him familiarise himself with his new surroundings when he moves across to Alpine next year.

Even better for him, it was revealed that Fernando Alonso was his Secret Santa for the year, which led to the retort from Gasly: “Thank you very much, Fernando – on top of giving me his car he gives me Monopoly as well!”

Elsewhere, Valtteri Bottas is now the proud owner of some particularly funky cycling gear, covered with the animated cartoon charactersMinionsand bananas, courtesy of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.

Verstappen himself adopted a lion on behalf of Haas driver Mick Schumacher, while Nicholas Latifi has had 61 bees adopted in his name by Sebastian Vettel, one to represent each of the times the two drivers lined up against each other on the grid.

There were plenty of smiles from the drivers as they opened their presents, and as is often the case with office Secret Santa presents, some went to greater lengths with their presents than others…

The full video of the annual F1 Secret Santa is available to watch on Formula 1’s official YouTube channelhere.

Read more: Sir Jackie Stewart on life, love and losing friends: ‘In those days we drove through the fire’