F1 champion went on a high-speed scooter chase to track down thieves using Find My
Four time Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel went on a high-speed chase on the streets of Barcelona to get back his belongings. The driver remembered he had left a pair of AirPods in the backpack, and used the Find My feature to track his belongings.
“A bag belonging to Sebastian Vettel was stolen in Barcelona this morning,” the team confirmed. “He tried to find it by using his iPhone to track his earphones which were in his bag; but when he located his earphones he found them abandoned and was therefore unable to locate his stolen bag.”
On Monday morning, the Formula 1 driver was cruising through Barcelona with his family after the Spanish Grand Prix. But moments after he parked his Aston Martin in front of a hotel, and got out of the car, thieves took the opportunity to grab his backpack from the car and run away.
Instead of immediately contacting the police, Vettel hopped on an electric scooter and started chasing the thieves using Find My, reports Spanish publication iPadizate. This must have looked like a movie scene, and police was also informed and joined Vettel, suggesting he file a report rather than continuing the chase. The driver, however, reportedly continued the chase since he was still able to get the thieves' live location on Find My.
Eventually, Vettel reached the Barcelonetta neighbourhood where he found his AirPods tossed in a vase of flowers near the window of a local shop. The thieves have apparently figured out Vettel was using the AirPods to track them, opened the backpack and threw away the AirPods, taking everything else.
An Aston Martin spokesperson confirmed the incident on Monday afternoon:
“A bag belonging to Sebastian Vettel was stolen in Barcelona this morning,” the team confirmed. “He tried to find it by using his iPhone to track his earphones which were in his bag; but when he located his earphones he found them abandoned and was therefore unable to locate his stolen bag.”
In the report that he filed, Vettel said he could not see the thieves, but police is waiting for security camera footage from the hotel to identify them. And unfortunately, this is how the story ends, without a happy ending. Police will be on the lookout for the stolen backpack and the thieves.
We at PhoneArena have our own stories of stolen luggage in Barcelona throughout the years of us visiting the Mobile World Congress show that takes place in the Spanish city. We had to run and managed to catch the thieves just as they were entering the subway, but obviously theft remains a huge problem there. So let this serve as a reminder to keep your belongings close to you when you travel and remember to double check that you have the Find My option enabled on your Apple devices.
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