Ferrari's Bahrain GP winner Charles Leclerc robbed by fan asking for 'group photo'

Charles Leclerc has made a strong start to the current F1 season. The Ferrari driver is currently leading the F1 driver's World Championship having won two of the three races. The  Bahrain GP winner will be eyeing his third win in the upcoming Italy Grand Prix but ahead of the home race, a report has emerged that the Ferrari driver's watch was robbed while taking a group pictures with the fans.

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc robbed ahead of Italian GP

According to the report by motorsport.com Leclerc was spending a good time in a town in Tuscany which also included his trainer Andrea Ferrari. A group of fans asked him to take a picture with them. The F1 World Championship leader duly obliged, but the watch he was wearing was taken off his wrist by one of the members of the group and quickly left without being pulled up for the theft.

The report states that the watch is estimated to be worth €300,000 [£249,000], but it has reportedly been made available at over a million Euros when being sold at auctions. Leclerc report the theft to local police once he realised the watch had been taken from him.

According to the report by express.co.uk a Ferrari spokesperson commenting on the Charles Leclerc robbery said : “We can confirm that in the evening of 18th April, in Viareggio Italy, Charles Leclerc had his watch stolen. Since investigations are ongoing, no further details can be shared, at the moment.” Charles Leclerc isn't the first driver whose watch was being robbed.  Last year during the Euro 202o final Lando Norris was mugged at Wembley with the McLaren driver also having his watch stolen at the time.

Charles Leclerc's performance in the ongoing F1 season

While the spotlight was on Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton ahead of the start of the season, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc has taken all the spotlight following his scintillating start during the early stages of the new F1 season. Leclerc made a winning start at the Bahrain GP last month finishing ahead of his Scuderia team-mate Carlos Sainz and former World Champion  Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes.

The Monegasque driver had to settle for second place at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix a week later as he was denied victory by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by the narrowest of margins. However, Leclerc bounced back and got back to winning ways at the third race in Australia as he cruised to victory ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and George Russell of Mercedes.