Sebastian Vettel chased down robbers on his scooter in Barcelona on Monday after they took his personal bag.
After the Spanish Grand Prix, Vettel was spending an extra day in Barcelona before heading to Monaco for this weekend’s race in the Principality, but was affronted by a group of miscreants, who took his bag and ran off with it.
His Airpods were still in his bag when it was taken, so he used his iPhone to track down his stolen possessions, but he found that they had been dumped, so he could not reunite himself with the bag.
READ: Aston Martin accused of lying amid Red Bull copying scandal
“A bag belonging to Sebastian Vettel was stolen in Barcelona this morning,” said a statement from Aston Martin.
“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 unable to locate his stolen bag.”
The four-time world champion finished 11th in Sunday’s race in Spain while trying to make a two-stop strategy work.
Ultimately though, the intense tyre degradation caused by the heat, coupled with the fact that upgrades introduced last weekend did little to improve the poor performance of the car, meant that he could not make the desired progress.
“It was hot in the car. With 11th we are not taking any points which was the target,” explained Vettel.
“I think for everybody the car felt poor because it was so hot and so slippery with the tyres and we were going so slow.
“We were doing Formula 2 qualifying pace in the race, but we managed the tyres better than most.”
READ: Vettel fires back at Red Bull over cheating allegations after personal bag stolen
Vettel assessed that his personal performance in Spain was a good one, but the car did not quite have the capacity to reach the top 10 after he was beaten by Yuki Tsunoda, who got through the afternoon despite struggling with an injured shoulder.
“Everyone’s tyres were falling to pieces and lots of drivers pitted fairly early, so we tried something different by opting for a two-stopper,” said the 34-year-old.
“We just lacked a bit too much pace to really be able to attack the points-scoring positions. But we tried something – P11 is not much of a reward, but we had a decent race.”
Vettel has reported the robbery to local police.