Charles Leclerc once again showed his creativity, not only on the track but also away from it, after delivering a tongue-in-cheek Christmas gift to George Russell during Formula 1’s traditional Secret Santa exchange.
Fate paired the Ferrari driver with his Mercedes rival, the same opponent he shared a brief on-track flashpoint with earlier this season at Zandvoort. During the Dutch Grand Prix, Leclerc pulled off a spectacular yet risky overtaking move on Russell, a manoeuvre that immediately sparked complaints from the British driver over its aggressiveness.
george: i'm lost for words…
— clara (@leclercsletters) December 23, 2025
"do you wanna wish him a merry christmas?"
george: not really, to be honest. maybe i'll get him another photo of kimi crashing him out of the race
😭😭😭😭💀💀 pic.twitter.com/Lpe3ka45tR
The incident quickly lost relevance when Leclerc was later forced to retire following a collision with Andrea Kimi Antonelli, bringing any potential controversy to a swift end. However, the Monegasque clearly did not forget the moment.
For Secret Santa, Leclerc decided to immortalise the overtake by gifting Russell a framed photograph of the move, accompanied by a digital version featuring the video of the pass itself. The playful gesture was very much in keeping with Leclerc’s sense of humour.
Russell’s reaction was equally light-hearted, taking the joke in good spirit as shown in a video shared by Formula 1 on social media, underlining the friendly rivalry that exists between the two drivers despite their on-track battles.
