After every F1 season concludes, most of the drivers take part in the Secret Santa event. Back in 2019, Daniel Ricciardo had Max Verstappen as his Secret Santa. The Dutchman gave his former Red Bull teammate an expensive karaoke set. Since the gift was so costly, Ricciardo assumed that Verstappen must have used his bonus money for the same. The 34-year-old knew at the time that it would have been Verstappen who would have given him this gift as his former teammate knows him best.
When told it was indeed Verstappen, a proud Ricciardo replied, “Haha (with a fist pump). Now I know why he spent a little more. He won in Brazil. Bonus money baby“. However, it is pertinent to note that it took the 34-year-old a while to come to the conclusion that he perhaps did receive the gift from Verstappen.
Soon after Ricciardo opened the first part of his gift, a karaoke microphone, the first person that came to his mind was Charles Leclerc. The Honey Badger believes that since the Ferrari driver once heard him singing, the Monegasque could have given him this gift.
However, once he opened the second part of his gift, a Bluetooth karaoke machine, he was surprised to receive such an expensive gift. Ricciardo then thought that it could be Verstappen to gift him this set as the Dutchman won some bonus money because of his victory in Brazil that year.
The 26-year-old comfortably won the race in Brazil as he started on pole and barely any of his rivals were able to challenge him for the lead. Verstappen eventually won the race by over six seconds from second-placed Pierre Gasly. Coming back to the gifts, while Ricciardo was delighted with his, Verstappen was not too happy.
Max Verstappen expressed his dislike with Carlos Sainz’s gift
As soon as Max Verstappen opened the gift, he knew it was Carlos Sainz who had given him his present. The Dutchman received a golf gift set plush toy and a fan.
The 26-year-old then seemingly expressed his displeasure with the gift by hilariously asking the organizers if they deliberately chose Sainz for him. He then added that he was certain that Sainz would have given him this gift since he is “really bad at golf“.
Although golf is one of the most common pastimes of several of the drivers on the current grid, Verstappen is not one of them. Instead, the Red Bull driver prefers to play simulator racing and has also begun his own business venture, racing.verstappen.com, in the same field.
