Not the first year at the end of the season, the official website of the championship among the riders holds something like a funny pre-Christmas competition. Each of them is given a gift, and it is necessary to guess which of the rival friends presented it. It doesn’t work for everyone.
This year, Esteban Okon was the first to guess, receiving a huge book of Spider-Man comics. The Alpine racer was delighted when he opened the gift and said he likes comics, but couldn’t guess who made him happy.
Esteban decided that he could only get such a gift from his friend Mick Schumacher, but it turned out that Daniel Riccardo gave him such a deluxe edition. Okon was really touched: “Thank you very much! This is the best gift and you are just a legend! Keep it in mind, I hope to see you back on the starting field soon!”
The Australian was next to unwrap the gift box and there was a compact camera that could print straight away. Daniel was also delighted, he promised to take the camera to his homeland, to Australia, but did not guess the name of the donor. He decided it was George Russell or Lando Norris. Last resort, Lewis Hamilton. But the gift was from Nicholas Latifi.
Nicholas’ task was simpler: he was given a special certificate confirming that he had hosted 61 bees – according to the number of Grand Prix he had held. It is clear that only Sebastian Vettel, known for his love of beekeeping, could come up with such a gift.
In turn, the four-time world champion also received something like a congratulatory certificate, the sender of which promised to plant a maple tree in Switzerland, having agreed with local forestry experts. Sebastian immediately guessed that the author of such an original gift was Lance Stroll.
“If you get a tree, it’s a great gift! One of the best ever! Thanks Lance! said Vettel, now a Formula 1 veteran.
Stroll was presented with a whole set: a bottle of gin, a few bottles of tonic and a red apple. Being a Finnish Oath gin produced by Valtteri Bottas it was easy to guess. But here’s how Lance commented: “The whole paddock thinks I’m an alcoholic! Last year I got a bottle of tequila.”
Valtteri took out a special insulated bicycle kit from the gift bag, with a very bright and fun design. The first two versions he submitted turned out to be wrong, but on the third attempt he got to the point: the donor was not Daniel or Lando, but Carlos Sainz.
The Spanish Ferrari driver received a nice warm jersey with AlphaTauri’s signature, and Carlos immediately recognized that it was a gift from Pierre Gasly.
The French driver, who will drive for Alpine F1 next year, got a Monopoly game and was very happy. He said he didn’t have one at home and was just going to get it. Moreover, he immediately suspected that this was a gift from Fernando Alonso.
“Not only did he give me his car, he gave me a game! Thank you!” said Pierre.
Alonso was presented with a small race car rear-view mirror and he couldn’t even guess who the author of the gift was, so he immediately gave up. When he learned it was Kevin Magnussen, he was quite amused.
When the Dane played with a particular package with a long configuration, he suggested it was a fishing rod. And when I opened it, I saw that there was a black and orange flag.
“I had three this year and now a fourth!” – noted the Haas racer, who indeed was shown such a flag more than once, which meant that his car was damaged and he had to go to the pits for repairs.
But the flag also came with a special door stop (“Probably so I couldn’t slam the door in Günter Steiner’s office!”), and a beard grooming kit. If Kevin’s first two gifts made him happy, this one made him happy too, and he even suspected it was from Alex Albon. Incidentally, it turned out that the mother of the Williams driver also had a hand in putting together such an unusual set.
Alex also received several gifts at once: night slippers, green and blue hair dye and a certificate to play golf at one of the Mexican golf clubs. Of course, he immediately realized that it was all Sergio Perez’s.
The Mexican Red Bull Racing driver was no less quick-witted – however, his task was not much more difficult either. He was handed a large bottle of sake – logical to assume Yuki Tsunoda’s. It seems that Sergio was genuinely delighted and vowed to find a worthy use for the traditional Japanese drink.
The Japanese was presented with a framed photo showing him with Pierre Gasly. The picture is historic, because next year Yuki will have a new partner in AlphaTauri. On the second attempt, Tsunoda correctly guessed that it belonged to Lando Norris and vowed to keep the memorable photo for life.
The Briton was given a set for walking in the woods and mountains, which is suitable for any outdoor training – a dark-colored T-shirt, black loose-fitting trousers made of durable fabric and excellent hiking boots. Lando, for some reason, immediately decided it belonged to Mick Schumacher. Apparently he knew something.
Mick got a stuffed lion, small and rather funny. But it was only an attachment to a real gift: a certificate confirming that he became the guardian of a real lion who lived in a zoo for a whole year. Schumacher suspected the gift was from Max Verstappen.
The two-time world champion, who is known as a big fan of eSports, was presented with the game F1 2022 for the PlayStation console with a portrait of Charles Leclerc on the box. There’s nothing to think about, he was the donor. In addition, the signature on the card was this: “To my chief admirer.” Max had a genuine laugh when he read it.
Charles received a beautiful set for the tea ceremony. At first he thought it was Yuki’s, but the second attempt turned out to be correct: Guanyu Zhou.
The Chinese Alfa Romeo racer received a toy dragon, similar to a tyrannosaurus, but red for some reason, and a set of Christmas stockings. Zhou’s first draft was wrong – he suggested that only Daniel Riccardo could give such a gift. Actually, it was George Russell.
George was presented with a toy drum with the Brazilian flag in memory of his first victory in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
“I don’t play musical instruments, but maybe I’ll start learning now!” said Russell. True, all his assumptions turned out to be wrong, and he put forward three versions: Lando, Alex and the already mentioned Daniel more than once. But the Brazilian drum was given by Esteban Ocon!
And only Lewis Hamilton for some reason did not participate in this fun and good venture.
Source: F1 News
I’m Todderic Kirkman, a journalist and author for athletistic. I specialize in covering all news related to sports, ranging from basketball to football and everything in between. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, I have become an invaluable asset to my team. My ambition is to bring the most up-to-date information on sports topics around the world.
