Valtteri Bottas revealed that his Cadillac rental car, provided by the Cadillac F1 team, was stolen from where he was staying for the Miami Grand Prix.

The incident triggered an FBI investigation, with Bottas revealing that his paddock pass was inside the stolen car. The Cadillac F1 driver had been staying at an Airbnb in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Valtteri Bottas explains Miami GP Cadillac theft

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Speaking on the What’s next? Podcast by Valtteri Bottas & Paul Ripke, Bottas opened up on the ordeal which he experienced over the Miami Grand Prix race weekend.

Bottas said he was staying in a “nice area” in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which has “low crime rates”. He spoke of how he used to stay “in Miami and also South Beach”, but found Miami “a bit much”, and so now prefers to base himself in the “more chill” Fort Lauderdale for the Miami GP.

What happened certainly challenged that chilled vibe.

“So got back Friday as normal, drove our car to the driveway, had a quick dinner, early to bed. Car keys are inside the house. Car is locked.

“I wake up Saturday morning, I was in the shower about 15 minutes before leaving for the track.

“And then Paul Harris [Bottas’ personal assistant], who also stayed in the Airbnb, is calling me. And I’m like, ‘Hello? Why are you calling me? I’m like next door.’ He was like, ‘Oh, I was asking where did you go?’ I said, ‘What do you mean?’

“‘Well, the car is gone.’

“So, I couldn’t believe it. I went outside, opened the door. The Escalade has vanished. Keys are still inside on the table. I can see them like, ‘What? What? How?’ So, our car got stolen from the driveway of our Airbnb.

“Obviously, I was going to be late to the track because we had to find another way of transport. But yeah, luckily they sent another Escalade, it took us to the track, and then I was like, ‘Oh, my paddock pass was in the car.’ I didn’t have a paddock pass. So anyway, I found a solution for that. FBI got involved. Full investigation.”

It was jokingly put to Bottas that the thief could therefore have been Valtteri Bottas for the day.

“He had all the opportunities for that day!” Bottas quipped. “Get the VIP parking, walk to the paddock, sign in, go to the team.

“But no, the car, the next day it was found dumped somewhere in a dodgy area, in a high-crime area.

“So the police and FBI got involved, just because of this reason what you mentioned. We had the parking pass, so somebody could have driven the car to the track. They had my pass, but they obviously weren’t interested about the F1 race.

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“Apparently, they probably just did a crime with the car and dumped it.

“So, in my mind, it must have been like a getaway car or something [laughs]. Like, it’s sad that we lost the car, but it’s pretty cool!”

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