The racetrack isn’t the only place where Carlos Sainz has had to chase people down.
The Ferrari driver’s Richard Mille watch was stolen while he was outside his hotel in Milan this past weekend, according to The Drive. Fortunately, Sainz and members of his support staff were able to catch the thieves and hold them until they could be arrested by police.
The robbery happened Sunday evening, following F1’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza. Sainz, who finished third in the race, was reportedly approached outside the Armani Hotel by three men posing as fans who turned out to be more interested in his luxury timepiece than his signature. After the trio made off with the watch, a group that reportedly included Sainz, his trainer, his assistant, and some bystanders followed in pursuit. The group eventually caught up with the thieves, retrieved the timepiece, and held them until authorities arrived.
Chasing the crooks down may not have been the smartest move, but it’s easy to see why he wanted to get his Richard Mille back. The watch in question is the RM 67-02 Alexander Zevrev, a special edition of the ultra-light sports watch that’s done up in the same colors as Ferrari’s F1 car. The watch was initially reported to be worth $600,000 by ESPN, but second-hand retailers like Wrist Aficionado regularly sell the timepiece for closer to $300,000.
“As many of you already know, yesterday we experienced an unfortunate incident in Milano,” Sainz wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday. “The most important thing is that we are all OK and this will only remain as an unpleasant anecdote.”
Sainz isn’t the only F1 driver who’s had their watch stolen recently. Last April, crooks took his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc’s RM 67-02 while he posed for selfies with a group of fans in the Italian resort town of Viareggio. This spring, Leclerc asked fans to stop showing up at the door of his home in Monaco and while the incident wasn’t cited as a reason for the request, it wouldn’t be surprising if it was.
