Franco Colapinto the victim of robbery during F1 summer break

Alpine driver Franco Colapinto was the victim of a robbery during his F1 2026 summer break, it has emerged.

Colapinto was staying at Lake Como in Italy, one of the most attractive tourist spots in the world, when he was targeted by thieves last week.

Franco Colapinto robbed during holiday at Lake Como

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In a now-deleted post to social media, the 23-year-old revealed that a number of items – including clothes and a kit used to prepare mate, a tea-like drink popular in his home nation of Argentina – had been seized during his stay.

He wrote: “Who would have thought that Italians would steal everything from a Latino. I’m sure they won’t like the mate.”

Reports have claimed that Colapinto’s original post, comparing safety in Italy to Argentina, provoked an angry backlash on social media, with Colapinto later tweaking his reference to “Italians” to “Europeans.”

The post has since disappeared from his profile.

In a separate post a short time later, Colapinto shared a series of images prior to the robbery.

The accompanying caption read: “Last photos of these clothes, mate, etc., etc. I hope those who’ve snapped them up enjoy them!!”

Colapinto’s post, which has received more than 700,000 ‘likes’ on Instagram at the time of writing, was accompanied by two angry-faced emojis and a single tearful emoji.

Colapinto is not the only F1 driver to have been robbed in Italy over recent years, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc targeted ahead of the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola.

Four men were arrested for stealing Leclerc’s watch, which was worth $320,000 (£237,000/€277,000 at current exchange rates).

The following year, Leclerc’s then-Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz also had his watch stolen after the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, with the Spaniard successfully chasing down the thieves to retrieve the timepiece worth $675,000 (£500,000/€585,000).

Lando Norris, the McLaren driver and reigning world champion, also had his watch worth $194,000 (£144,000/€168,000) stolen at the Euro 2020 final between England and Italy at Wembley.

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After a troubled first season with Alpine in 2025, Colapinto enjoyed a much-improved first half of F1 2026.

The former Williams driver has scored points in six of the first 11 races of the campaign, including a career-best sixth-place finish in Canada.

Alpine holds sixth place in the constructors’ standings ahead of next weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, trailing fifth-placed Racing Bulls by five points.

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