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The 2021 F1 season marked the first season for Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz as team-mates at Ferrari. With just the right amount of competitiveness as well as team spirit on and off the track, the two of them have had a pretty impressive year. Their friendship outside of racing in particular was sparked through their growing obsession with the game of chess.
Whilst the Monegasque driver has always enjoyed a good game of chess, Spaniard Sainz was introduced to it by his team-mate this year and they have never looked back since.
As reported by Motorsport.com, here's what Leclerc said about his obsession with chess from an early age:
"I think it was during all the media days at the beginning of the year, we didn’t know what to do and I was playing chess, and he saw me, and said OK, I’m downloading this. We got quite crazy with it in the first part of the year. We played against each other, and we’ve never stopped."
The two Ferrari drivers truly bond over a game now and then and take it pretty seriously as they get reasonably competitive just as they do on track.
Here's what Lando Norris had to say about his former team-mate's newfound love for chess with Leclerc:
"He freaking loves his chess with Charles...He was playing like hours and hours of it, him and Charles. I never knew he played before.”
Before his move to Ferrari, Sainz enjoyed the same environment of friendly competition over golf with former McLaren team-mate Norris.
Ferrari F1 drivers compete in a game of chess for the C² challenge
Ferrari's F1 social media team also capitalized on the two drivers' love for chess and organized a C² chess challenge on their YouTube channel. The challenge consisted of three rounds of chess between the two. The Spaniard emerged victorious in two out of the three rounds, making him the challenge winner.
The team did various challenges for the YouTube channel throughout the year with a total of 17 rounds and both drivers ended on equal points with nine wins each.
