Mystery F1 driver finally nabbed

by Bill Buys POLICE in the Czech Republic have finally caught up  with a would-be F1 driver they’ve been hunting for the past five years. D...

by Bill Buys

POLICE in the Czech Republic have finally caught up  with a would-be F1 driver they’ve been hunting for the past five years.

Decked out in a red racing suit and wearing a helmet, the chap behind the wheel was spotted by many motorists, many of whom called police to report seeing the ‘Formula 1 Ferrari’ driving along the D4 Motorway.

No lights, no rego plates, and it wasn’t tearing up the road at 300km/h -- but travelling at regular freeway speeds.

However, many an image appeared on social media in recent years as the driver occasionally lived his dream.

His unplanned pit stop came when police were finally able to catch up with him in his driveway.

But it was quite an operation, involving up to 20 police cars -- and a helicopter. 

As well, the driver refused to get out of his racer and told police they were trespassing on private property and therefore could not arrest him.

That didn’t end well for him. His name has not been released but he’s a 51-year-old from the village of Buk, about 60km south-west of Prague.

He now faces significant fines and a potential driving ban.

Oh, the ‘Ferrari’ wasn’t genuine either. Not that it makes the incident any less bizarre, but his car turned out to be a Dallara GP2/08, used from 2008 to 2010 in the GP2 championship. 

Adrian Sutil crashes rare McLaren

 

Meanwhile, a former real F1 driver is in trouble in Germany after an international police raid on addresses in Monaco, Switzerland, and the German town of Sindelfingen.

He is Adrian Sutil, who last served as a reserve driver for Haas in F1 in 2015. 

He competed for seven seasons with the Spyker, Force India and Sauber F1 teams. 

He was also earlier in trouble after an incident in a Shanghai nightclub during the 2011 season in which Renault F1 executive Eric Lux was beaten up.

The German driver was given an 18-month suspended sentence and 200,000 euro fine ($350,000 Aussie dollars).

Since leaving F1, Sutil has kept mainly out of the public eye, aside from some runs in the Ferrari Challenge in 2022 and 2023, and an entry in the historic Millie Miglia in 2018. 

Then, in 2020, he was back in the news when he crashed his $1.5 million LM-Spec McLaren Senna near  Monaco. 

The supercar was one of just 24 made.

 

Mystery Czech F1 driver caught on camera.

 

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