Scotland Yard has recovered a £350,000 Ferrari stolen from the former Formula One Gerhard Berger driver 28 years ago.
The red F512M Testarossa was one of two Ferraris stolen from Berger and fellow F1 driver Jean Alesi at the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, Italy in April 1995.
Berger, a 10-time Grand Prix winner, reportedly caught the thief as they were making off with the car and tried, unsuccessfully, to chase after them in a friend’s Volkswagen Golf.
Alesi’s silver-grey 355 disappeared from the car park at his hotel. Italian police believed the thefts were likely stolen to order.
In January this year, The Metropolitan Police received a report from Ferrari after the manufacturer had carried out checks on a car being bought by a US buyer through a UK broker last year.
Officers from the Organised Vehicle Crime Unit discovered the car had been shipped to Japan shortly after being stolen and was then brought to the UK in late 2023.
Berger’s Ferrari was tracked down and seized by the Met to prevent the car from being exported from the UK.
The second car remains missing and no arrests have yet been made.
PC Mike Pilbeam, who led the investigation, said: “The stolen Ferrari, close to the value of £350,000, was missing for more than 28 years before we managed to track it down in just four days.
“Our enquiries were painstaking and included contacting authorities from around the world.
“We worked quickly with partners including the National Crime Agency, as well as Ferrari and international car dealerships, and this collaboration was instrumental in understanding the vehicle’s background and stopping it from leaving the country.”
