Carlos Sainz fights off attempted robbery after securing podium at the 2023 F1 Italian GP

Carlos Sainz was reportedly seen fighting off robbers after his P3 finish at the Italian GP on Sunday.

The Ferrari driver started the race in front of the adoring Tifosi in pole position and made a great start as he defended his lead from Max Verstappen at the first corner.

Throughout the 51 laps in Monza, Carlos Sainz displayed some outstanding defensive skills to keep the two Red Bulls and his teammate Charles Leclerc behind to finish P3. Sainz led the race for 14 laps.

After experiencing one of his best days in the sport, Sainz had to reportedly fight off some robbers in the streets of Milan. As per The Sun, the robbers were attempting to steal his €500k Richard Mille watch. The same had happened with Leclerc in Imola in 2021 although Carlos Sainz was able to chase down the robbers with the public's help and retrieve his watch.

The British newspaper reported:

“The Spanish driver managed to catch the robbers and recover the precious Richard Mille watch while police have now arrested two suspects.”

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Carlos Sainz analyzes his 'great' weekend at Monza

Carlos Sainz stated that he was really happy with his podium finish in Monza in front of the home fans and was a great weekend for him overall.

As per F1.com, he said:

"It was a great weekend all along and to be able to celebrate a podium with the tifosi is the perfect icing on the cake! I really want to thank every single one of them for their endless support. They are very special! I’ve done other strong weekends in F1 that maybe got a bit unnoticed when I was in the midfield where I felt I extracted everything out of the car. Of this year, for sure, of my Ferrari career probably.

"Today I did everything I could to try to keep both Red Bulls behind, using my tires to the limit and pushing for the entire race. Unfortunately, they still have the edge over us on race day and P3 was the maximum today. We had good battles on track with them and with Charles and I hope people enjoyed it as much as I did. Now we have some time to regroup and start preparing for Singapore as soon as possible."

Although Carlos Sainz wasn't able to get the coveted win, he did earn plaudits from every Tifosi watching the race for his efforts.