Key Highlights:
- Formula 1 boasts a long tradition of paddock mischief, ranging from Gerhard Berger placing 50 frogs in Ayrton Senna’s room to Niki Lauda’s infamous biscuit gag at the Nürburgring.
- High-stakes radio channels and press conferences have often served as prank stages, including Sergio Perez tricking Sauber engineer Marco Schupbach and Sebastian Vettel meddling with Nico Rosberg’s microphone.
- Inter-team pranks continue into modern paddocks, exemplified by Kimi Antonelli’s escalating war with race engineer Peter “Bono” Bonnington and coordinated driver antics like the 2024 Abu Dhabi seating plot aimed at George Russell.
High-Speed Hijinks: The Enduring Culture of Formula 1 Practical Jokes
While Formula 1 is renowned globally for relentless pressure, multi-million-dollar technology, and extreme physical demands, its paddock has hosted an equally intense culture of backstage mischief. Far from the circuits where drivers constantly fight to keep rivals on edge, competitors and engineers have spent decades executing elaborate schemes and lighthearted gags. From mid-race radio panics to intricate revenge plans stretching across multiple seasons, paddock humor remains a key release valve in motorsport’s pressure-cooker environment.
Classic Rivalries and Teammate Pranks: Senna, Berger, and Beyond
Few partnerships in motorsport history fostered as many iconic practical jokes as Ayrton Senna and Gerhard Berger during their time at McLaren from 1990 to 1992. Berger, renowned for his relentless sense of humor, repeatedly made Senna his target. During a visit to Australia, Berger spotted frogs on a golf course during an evening run, paid a hotel concierge $100 for assistance, and—with help from team boss Ron Dennis’ wife, Lisa Dennis—scattered roughly 50 frogs across Senna’s hotel room while the Brazilian driver was dining. When Senna angrily confronted his teammate the next morning, Berger maintained the upper hand by casually inquiring whether Senna had located the snake yet—a reptile that never actually existed.
Berger’s antics did not stop there: he once defaced Senna’s passport photo with an inappropriate picture and hurled Senna’s allegedly indestructible carbon-fiber briefcase out of a flying helicopter. Senna ultimately struck back by packing Berger’s shoes full of shaving cream. Decades later, Scuderia Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz carried on the teammate prank dynamic in milder fashion. For Sainz’s 28th birthday in September 2022, Leclerc spent roughly 15 minutes crammed inside a driver room cupboard, eventually bursting out with confetti when Sainz opened the door—though a portion of the celebratory paper famously landed straight into Sainz’s morning coffee.
Paddock Press Rooms and Pit Wall Radio Trickery
Official media appearances and live team radios have regularly been commandeered for comedic relief. During the 2012 German Grand Prix FIA press conference, Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel noticed Nico Rosberg’s microphone was transmitting significantly louder than everyone else’s. Schumacher quietly urged Vettel to slide the microphone even closer to Rosberg, resulting in an absurdly amplified and distorted broadcast that left surrounding drivers struggling to conceal their laughter. A similar disregard for formal press duties surfaced after the 1999 Canadian Grand Prix, when Eddie Irvine disrupted Mika Hakkinen’s post-race media session by tossing a towel at the McLaren driver, triggering an escalating water fight.
Engineering channels have seen equal disruption. On the final lap of the 2011 Japanese Grand Prix, Sergio Perez—who had climbed from 17th on the grid to eighth for Sauber—radioed his team to report that he had suddenly lost all engine power. His race engineer, Marco Schupbach, desperately urged him to nurse the car across the line, only for Perez to cross the finish line and reveal the distress call was an outright farce. Schupbach struck back instantly, falsely informing Perez that teammate Kamui Kobayashi had finished fourth (he had actually crossed the line 13th), leaving the bewildered Mexican driver repeatedly questioning the classification. The engineer later concluded the feud ahead of the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix, coordinating with the entire Sauber garage to install a fake “rain button” on Perez’s steering wheel and secretly filming his genuine confusion over the phantom wet-weather innovation.
Modern Paddock Warfare: Mercedes, Racing Bulls, and Grid Conspiracies
The paddock’s lighter side continues unabated with recent generations of drivers. At Mercedes, young driver Kimi Antonelli ignited a spirited prank war against long-standing race engineer Peter “Bono” Bonnington. Starting in Bahrain during 2025 pre-season testing with a cream cake smashed into Bonnington’s face, the conflict escalated to Antonelli wielding high-powered water pistols—catching the eye of Lewis Hamilton—while Bonnington retaliated using hot sauce in Antonelli’s drinks bottle and threatening him with a fire extinguisher. Antonelli even deactivated Bonnington’s security pass at the Brackley factory, before mechanics ambushed the driver with whipped cream ponchos on his 20th birthday at Monza. Antonelli has since acknowledged that targeting Team Principal Toto Wolff remains off-limits until he secures enough championship leverage.
Inter-driver coordination can also turn sharp. Following their on-track clash in Qatar late in 2024, Max Verstappen and George Russell were the center of attention at the annual end-of-season dinner in Abu Dhabi. The rest of the grid deliberately filled every empty dining chair except the one directly beside Verstappen. When Russell arrived late, Verstappen openly told him that the group had reserved the seat specifically for him. Unamused, Russell declined the setup, lifted the chair, moved it to the opposite end of the table, and sat beside Hamilton—an incident Liam Lawson later recounted on an F1 podcast as hilarious to the rest of the drivers.
Macabre humor has also made its mark on the sport. In 2013, while filming a segment for the movie Rush at the Nürburgring, the late three-time World Champion Niki Lauda revisited the site of his near-fatal 1976 crash. Amid a serious interview with an American television crew about his burn injuries, Lauda leaned down into the grass, stood up holding a concealed biscuit, and told the stunned camera crew that he had finally recovered his severed ear.
The newer grid at Racing Bulls has maintained the tradition, with Liam Lawson working alongside Sky Sports F1 presenters Simon Lazenby and Naomi Schiff to bait rookie teammate Arvid Lindblad into an elaborate fake interview. Lindblad later retaliated via an earpiece stunt, directing Lawson into embarrassing paddock situations that included snatching Charles Leclerc’s microphone during a live session. Similarly, at a Silverstone karting promotion in July, McLaren’s Lando Norris suddenly accelerated off with a shared kart while Oscar Piastri hung on without pedal control, sending the Australian’s hat flying.
Why This Matters
Behind the intense commercial interests, engineering secrecy, and hyper-competitive pressures of modern Formula 1, practical jokes serve as a crucial cultural pressure-release valve. The willingness of championship contenders, race engineers, and team personnel to engage in long-running pranks highlights the unique fraternity binding paddock personnel who travel together for upwards of 24 race weekends a year. These antics preserve the human element of a sport increasingly dominated by corporate messaging and telemetry data, illustrating that psychological edge and team camaraderie often go hand-in-hand.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most famous prank between Ayrton Senna and Gerhard Berger?
The most famous prank occurred during a race trip to Australia, where Gerhard Berger paid a hotel concierge $100 to catch roughly 50 wild frogs and hid them throughout Ayrton Senna’s hotel room with the help of Lisa Dennis, later asking the furious Brazilian if he had located an imaginary snake.
How did Sergio Perez prank his race engineer at the 2011 Japanese Grand Prix?
On the final lap of the race, having climbed from 17th to eighth, Perez used the team radio to report that his car had completely lost power, alarming engineer Marco Schupbach until the Mexican crossed the finish line safely and admitted it was a joke.
Did Niki Lauda actually play a prank about his missing ear?
Yes. While filming a 2013 television feature at the Nürburgring regarding his horrific 1976 accident, Lauda pre-planted a biscuit in the grass, picked it up on camera, and presented it to the horrified production crew claiming it was his ear from the crash.
