Formula One’s annual trip to Brazil is off to a rocky start, to say the least.
Lewis Hamilton took to Twitter on Saturday to reveal that some of his Mercedes-AMG Petronas teammates were robbed at gunpoint outside the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace in Interlagos, Sao Paulo on Friday ahead of this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix. Here’s the British driver’s account of the scary incident:
Hamilton then added that violent crime is a recurring issue when F1 travels to Brazil.
Mercedes reportedly wasn’t the only F1 team involved in the incident, however.
“Mercedes confirmed that valuables had been stolen in the incident but that everyone had escaped ‘safe and uninjured,’ ” Motorsport.com reported Saturday.
“Team members from Williams and officials from the FIA were also in the convoy of cars that were targeted by the robbers near the circuit, but managed to escape when the traffic lights holding cars changed and allowed them to move on.”
Hamilton secured his fourth F1 World Championship after finishing P9 in the Mexican Grand Prix on Oct. 29.
