WATCH: Lewis Hamilton opens up about his special ‘Secret Santa’ tradition for Christmas

The F1 paddock has been freed from the excruciating 22-race calendar in 2023. Hence, all the drivers and teams are in celebration of Christmas over the winter break. Amidst the fun festive celebrations, Lewis Hamilton opened up about a special tradition that he follows with his friends.

In a recent tweet on X by the Mercedes official F1 page, Hamilton revealed in detail what he did on Secret Santa. The Briton highlighted initially that he has had experiences where people would be upset that the gifts given by the ex-world champion were not ‘glamorous enough’. However, the 38-year-old asserted that it was the thought that counts and not the actual gift that matters.

I got everyone to do Secret Santa, You're racking your mind about buying people gifts that at the end of the day it shouldn't matter what you're buying them, it's the thought that counts. But I've had experiences that people were upset that it [Secret Santa gift] was not glamorous or big enough.

Hamilton said on Mercedes’ X account

After this, Hamilton explained what special tradition he followed for the Secret Santa. The Briton added that they would take $50 and take up to half an hour in a store to fetch whichever 5 items were best. Additionally, after the initial 30 minutes, the people played a special double-or-nothing round to potentially grab each other’s gift that they liked. Interestingly Hamilton is not the only F1 driver to not participate in F1’s Secret Santa.

So I do this whole thing now where we just do Secret Santa and we have like $50 and we have half an hour to rush around the store and find five gifts. Once everyone's spread out with all the gifts, there's a double or nothing round, where if you roll a double you can steal people's presents.

Lewis Hamilton also partook in other adventurous activities during winter break

The 38-year-old is one of the most daring drivers on the track. This was evident from his multiple attempts at skydiving in the open sky. Firstly, Hamilton took to the open skies of Abu Dhabi with the infamous Arab skydiver Naila Nazer. This skydive was nothing short of a stunt as the Briton also displayed a formation in the sky with the Nazer crew.

In addition to this, Hamilton also skydived in partnership with Monster Energy to prove his daring nature to fans worldwide. The Mercedes driver has also been surprisingly provided with a skydiving license by the team itself. Hence, Sir Lewis Hamilton begs to differ from the other F1 drivers by partaking in such daring activities.

However, the mediocre season of 2023 is not forgotten by the Brackley as the team works day in and out for the development of the next year. Hamilton had displayed positivity over the ever-developing W15 challenger for the next season and aims at contention for the world championship.

In case you missed it:

• Martin Brundle hints at Lewis Hamilton’s Plan B for winning the 8th Formula 1 Championship title
• Mika Hakkinen raises concerns about “very tough” 2024 F1 calendar

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