F1 rivals forced to CARSHARE on emergency ride home

Leclerc, Sainz and Piastri walking in the F1 paddock looking concerned — Photo: © IMAGO

Azerbaijan Grand Prix

F1 rivals forced to CARSHARE on emergency ride home

An emergency nearly prevented two F1 stars from making it home after Baku

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Monday 22 September 2025 14:11

Two F1 rivals were forced into a carshare home after Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, shared in a video that has since gone viral on social media.

Most F1 stars have a residence in Monaco, with drivers often flying home with one another after races, and following Baku, two former team-mates turned rivals were reunited.

Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz only made it as far as Italy however, before the current Ferrari driver revealed an emergency had prevented them from reaching Monaco.

Article continues under video

"So after a very difficult weekend in Baku, I thought it couldn’t get any worse," Leclerc revealed in a social media clip.

The Monegasque star then flipped the camera to show the road and the drivers’ side, where Carlos Sainz turned his profile into view.

"Where are we Carlos?" Leclerc asked.

"In the middle of Italy," he responded.

When Leclerc asked why, Sainz then revealed: "We were diverted for a storm, we couldn’t land in Nice. So we landed in the middle of Italy, we rented a van and now we are on our way to Monaco. Two hour drive, but we will make it one hour and a half."

To the last part, Leclerc exclaimed no, and Sainz added rather sheepishly: "No, no, never."

Sainz and Leclerc forced on Italian road trip after Baku

Leclerc and Sainz raced alongside each other at Ferrari for four seasons, before the Spaniard was replaced by Lewis Hamilton at the team this year.

However, the pair still retain a good relationship and often travel together, despite no longer being team-mates, with Leclerc offering his congratulations over team radio after Carlos Sainz’s first podium with Williams in Baku last weekend.

The 31-year-old secured third place, and crucially earned Williams’ first podium since the 2017 Azerbaijan GP with Lance Stroll, in what has been a difficult decade for the team.

Speaking over team radio, Leclerc said: "Is Carlos on the podium? Ah, good job to him."

Sainz also hailed the podium in Baku as the best of his career, and said to the media: "Honestly, I cannot describe how happy I am or how good this feels. It tastes even better than the first-ever podium that I did.

"We’ve been fighting hard all year and, finally today, we just proved that when we have the speed. We’ve had it all year, and when everything comes together, we can do some amazing things together.

"We nailed the race – not one mistake, and we managed to beat a lot of cars that, yesterday, I wasn’t expecting to beat."

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