Mercedes Formula 1 Motorsport Dir Toto Wolff "demanded police escorts" for F1 staff after gunmen targeted members of his team on a "notorious stretch of road" as they left the Interlagos circuit in São Paulo, according to Mark Hughes of the LONDON TIMES. As mechanics headed back to their hotel on Friday night, "two armed robbers approached their vehicle while it was stopped at traffic lights." A shot was fired in the air and "a gun held at a man’s head as the robbers stole watches and wallets." Police are "meant to line the roads around the junctions on the street that forms the main exit road from the track to the city, but after heavy rain it is believed they ran for cover, giving the gunmen the opportunity to strike." Nobody was hurt, but the incident "infuriated" Wolff and driver Lewis Hamilton.
A car containing personnel from the Williams team was "also approached by the same gunmen but was able to escape as the lights changed." A gunman also approached a car containing officials from FIA and "tapped his weapon on the window, but that vehicle was armoured with bulletproof glass and they escaped." FIA Communications Dir Matteo Bonciani was in the organization's car at the time of the attack. He said, "Three men hit the car windows with their weapons but the driver was spectacular and reacted with professionalism and cold blood. Luckily nothing happened to us" (
LONDON TIMES, 11/11).
ANOTHER HOLDUP: In London, Jack de Menezes reported following Saturday’s qualifying session at the Interlagos circuit, a van carrying a number of Sauber team personnel was "intentionally stopped by another car in a deliberate collision, with men armed with guns then approaching the van." Sauber Senior Strategy Engineer Ruth Bascome posted a picture of the damaged van on Twitter, along with the message: “Be careful leaving circuit even with added security." She added that everyone on board "escaped unharmed," and that the no-stop policy issued by FIA on Saturday "helped in their getaway, but it will raise serious concerns about F1 returning to Brazil until the safety of those at the track can be guaranteed" (INDEPENDENT, 11/12).
