SAO PAULO — Members of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes team say they were robbed at gun point in their minivan while leaving the Formula One race track where Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix will be held. Street crime is endemic in Brazil, which has been battered in the last several years by its worst recession in memory. Thieves at the Formula One race in Sao Paulo often target cars stuck in traffic jams at the exit of the circuit located about 30 kilometres (20 miles) south of the city centre. Matteo Bonciani, the spokesman for auto racing’s governing body FIA, said the car in which he was leaving the track on Friday was also assaulted by gun-wielding assailants. “At the beginning I thought they were just kids, but the guns freak you out,” he said.

Source: National Post November 11, 2017 13:52 UTC