Ferrari's star Formula 1 racer Charles Leclerc was the victim of a theft in April 2022 at the Italian seaside resort of Viareggio and he chose to use his racing acumen to chase down the thieves, the Italian police revealed in a video after finally arresting the perpetrators on Wednesday.
Along with the video, the police also released a statement saying that they found two "valuable watches, the provenance of which will be investigated further," while searching the house of one of the suspects.
The Monegasque citizen had an exclusive Richard Mille timepiece stolen from his wrist after being approached to take a selfie by two people wearing motorcycle helmets. Reuters report that it is not yet possible to say if either of the two watches found belongs to Leclerc.
The video of Leclerc chasing the thieves has gone viral and reminded fans of the time when Sebastian Vettel reportedly chased thieves on a scooter outside a hotel in Barcelona ahead of the 2022 Spanish GP.
He was lucky that the earbuds in the bag had a pair of earbuds with GPS in the bag but it was removed by the thieves.
"A bag belonging to Sebastian Vettel was stolen in Barcelona this morning. He tried to find it by using his iPhone to track his earphones which were in his bag, but when he located his earphones he found them abandoned and was therefore unable to locate his stolen bag," said the now-retired F1 racer's former team Aston Martin.
Another victim of theft among F1 drivers was McLaren's Lando Norris. He was robbed of an 'extremely rare Richard Mille timepiece — one of only five in the world — after the Euro 2020 final.
The robbery came after England’s defeat to Italy on penalties following the 1-1 draw between the heavyweight European footballing nations.
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