A Ferrari F512M owned by Scuderia driver Gerhard Berger has been discovered by the Metropolitan Police after being lost nearly three decades ago.
The scarlet Ferrari was stolen as Berger was leading the 1995 San Marino Grand Prix at Imola where, to make matters worse, he was passed on track by Damon Hill in a Williams-Renault and his Ferrari team mate Jean Alesi.
The F512M, meanwhile, raced off to Japan, police believe, where it stayed until late 2023 when it was shipped to the UK. The cops were alerted by Ferrari, after the Maranello firm was asked by a American buyer to check the car’s provenance.
“In January this year, the Met received a report from Ferrari, who had carried out checks on a car being bought by a US buyer via a UK broker in 2023, which revealed it was a stolen vehicle,” said London’s Metropolitan Police.
“The stolen Ferrari was missing for more than 28 years before we managed to track it down in just four days,” said PC Mike Pilbeam, who led the investigation.
“Our enquiries were painstaking and included contacting authorities from around the world. We worked quickly with partners including the National Crime Agency, as well as Ferrari and international car dealerships, and this collaboration was instrumental in understanding the vehicle’s background and stopping it from leaving the country.”
Ferrari revealed that Berger’s car was one of two prancing horses heisted from Imola, but sadly there’s no sign of the second. So far there have been no arrests and “enquiries are ongoing.”
Still, the seizing of the £350,000 Ferrari is another big win for the Met’s Organised Vehicle Crime Unit, which recovered more than 400 cars in 2023 worth in excess of £31 million.
