On December 6, a vehicle broke through the front entrance of Red Bull Racing’s Milton Keynes factory and a group of around six men, all wearing dark clothing, stole over 60 trophies belonging to the Formula 1 outfit.

RBR team manager Christian Horner said: “Beyond the aggressive nature of this break-in, we are perplexed why anyone would take these trophies. The value to the team is of course extraordinarily high due to the sheer hard work and effort that went into winning each and every one.”

The question is, why would anyone commit such a robbery? As Horner points out, “their intrinsic value is low; they would be of little benefit to those outside the team and, in addition to that, many of the trophies on display were replicas”.

The Thames Valley Police statement says that two cars, a silver 4×4 and a black or blue Mercedes estate, both believed to have foreign number plates, were involved in the burglary. Night staff who were on duty were, thankfully, not physically harmed.

Naturally, both the team and the police are asking anyone that has any information that might help the investigation to contact them.