The four-time Formula 1 world champion had his backpack stolen when he was parked in front of his hotel after the Spanish GP, and he had to get on an electric scooter to chase the thieves.
Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel wanted to chase after them to retrieve his headphones, only to discover they had been left behind when the thieves escaped with the rest of the contents.
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix about the incident for the first time since it occurred, the German driver explained that “I was leaving the hotel in the morning and I had my backpack in the car”.
“When I quickly went back into [the hotel] and came back out, it was gone.”
“Then I realized my headphones were in the bag and I was able to pinpoint their location. So I found them, but I didn’t find the bag, so it wasn’t really a chase.”
“Obviously he was a little disappointed to lose the backpack.”
“[The headphones] were inside, but when I found them they were in a flowerpot. I guess whoever stole them knew they were traceable.”
Vettel was asked if he had any concerns for his own safety in trying to chase down the robbers, but said: “I wanted my backpack, that was all I had in mind.”
The German, who had wanted to trace his belongings to avoid the tedious work of having to fill out documents, revealed that in general nothing too valuable had been taken.
“There weren’t many valuables inside,” Vettel said.
“I wasn’t sure at the time if my passport was in there or not. But it just happened to be in the other bag, so I was lucky.”
“But he had the ID and the insurance card, as well as the driver’s license, those things that take a while to get back because you have to apply for them and fill out the various forms.
“And I wasn’t really looking forward to that.”
“Luckily, there was no money in the backpack. He had some bandages for his knee [which he had burned driving his bike before the Spanish GP].
“Whoever took the backpack didn’t take much, because maybe the only thing of value was the headphones, which he had to leave behind along the way so they wouldn’t find him. But I really liked the backpack!”
“I just went there to see if I could find someone, maybe retrieve the backpack and then get back on the scooter, but there was no one in that area,” concluded the veteran German pilot.
