Members of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes team were left shaken after being held up at gunpoint on the eve of the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Hamilton, who was recently crowned Formula 1 world champion for the fourth time, confirmed that the team were leaving the Interlagos circuit in a minibus at the time of the incident, which is said to have taken place at around 10pm local time.
A tweet from Hamilton explained that gun shots were fired and that one of the team members had a gun pointed at his head. Thankfully, nobody was hurt, though Mercedes have since confirmed that valuables were stolen.
https://twitter.com/LewisHamilton/status/929324708453060608
A second tweet from Hamilton called on F1 bosses to do more to prevent such incidents, explaining that this isn’t the first time this has taken place ahead of a Brazilian Grand Prix.
https://twitter.com/LewisHamilton/status/929325142018347008
Jenson Button was also held up at gunpoint when leaving the same circuit after qualifying in 2010. Button, also a world champion at the time, had been approached by at least three men with machine guns at the time.
