Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have been getting on like a house on fire since the seven-time champion joined Ferrari. Thanks to their overwhelming popularity with fans of the sport, it’s come as no surprise to see them become one of the most-watched pairings on the grid.
At a fan event ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix, the two shared a hilarious moment together as they both realised they were cheating while playing chess with each other.
The Scuderia duo, who have been struggling with their cars’ performance so far this season despite a surprise win at the Chinese sprint race, shared a laugh with the crowds as they reflected on the moment.
“So we were in bed… playing chess,” Leclerc started, quickly clarifying amid laughter from the audience, “Not in the same bed, but he was in London. I was in Monaco, and we were playing chess.”
The Monegasque continued, explaining how they’d both won four games so far so, due to their racing driver-level of competitiveness, had to have a final deciding game.
“And [Hamilton] doesn’t want to go to sleep being four-four. So he’s like, ‘Let’s do another game,'” Leclerc laughed, to which Hamilton added, “We can’t go to bed at four-four, we’ve gotta play again.”
The crowd, at this point erupting with laughter joining the chuckles from the stage, continued watching as the drivers admitted they were both cheating.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
Photo by: Ferrari
“The moves that he was making were so good. And I’m like, ‘damnit, what is the next move,'” Hamilton continued. “So then I thought well, maybe I’ll go online and find some suggestions of what could be next. And so I found this website and it started showing you… it’ll predict what you should do next.
“I used it for one move, and then his moves were so good coming back, I just kept using it. And he goes, ‘Wait a second, are we both cheating?'”
Pushing through laughter, Leclerc finished:
“The worst thing is that my bot, the program I was using, was worse than his, so I was cheating and I still lost, and I went to sleep so depressed.”
Hamilton added: “I was laughing so hard on this flight. I was in tears.”
The most attentive of fans saw the duo playing chess together at the F1 75 launch event ahead of this season in London. While teams shared their presentations on-stage, the two Ferrari drivers were embroiled in games of chess before they unveiled their 2025 contender to the world for the first time.
