Carlos Sainz Chased Down Thieves Who Stole £250k Watch After Italian GP

Carlos Sainz experienced a full-on weekend at the Italian Grand Prix. Having claimed pole on Saturday and fought with championship leader Max Verstappen before settling for a solid third-place finish, the Ferrari driver later found himself chasing down a pair of thieves in Milan.

The incident happened mere hours after Sainz was sipping champagne on the podium at Monza, near the Armani hotel in Milan at about 8.30pm. The assailants made off with a Richard Mille watch worth the best part of a quarter of a million pounds, but Sainz, along with several members of the public, gave chase and were able to retrieve the pricey timepiece. Two arrests were made by local police, according to Italian media reports.

Referring to the attempted robbery on Twitter, Sainz said:

“As many of you already know, yesterday we experienced an unfortunate incident in Milano. The most important thing is that we are all OK and this will only remain as an unpleasant anecdote.

“Many thanks to all the people who helped us yesterday, to the Milan police for their quick intervention and thanks for all your messages.”

As it happens, Sainz’s Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc had his Richard Mille stolen elsewhere in Italy - Viareggio, Tuscany - last year. Meanwhile, another Richard Mille worth £144,000 was stolen from Lando Norris in 2021 during the Euro finals at Wembley.

Perhaps it’s time to think about switching to cheap Casio watches.