Formula 1: Jean Alesi placed in police custody

Jean Alesi, was taken into custody in Avignon (Vaucluse) on Tuesday. The former F1 driver “was taken into police custody around 4 p.m. on Monday for damaging the property of others by means of an explosive device“, explained to AFP the deputy prosecutor of Nîmes, Antoine Wolff, confirming information from the daily The team. The facts occurred in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, the city of Gard where the former 57-year-old Ferrari driver resides, separated from the papal city by the Rhône, hence the referral to the Nîmes prosecutor’s office, said Mr. Wolff. .

The police had been called Sunday around 10 p.m. by the neighborhood, worried by the sound of an explosion. Thanks to the license plate number noted by a neighbor, the police were able to determine that the vehicle seen on the spot before leaving with all lights out belonged to José Alesi, the brother of the ex-pilot, who was arrested. The former Scuderia driver (1991-1995) then went to the police station on Monday, where he cleared his brother from customs, explaining that it was he who was in the car, with his son and a friend of that – here, and that he himself had stuck a “large fireworks display bought in Italy” in the frame of a window of the architectural office of his brother-in-law, “without imagining causing such damage”, explained the deputy prosecutor.

Jean Alesi, who completed 13 seasons in Formula 1 for a grand-prix victory, explained that he only wanted to make a “bad joke“to his brother-in-law, in the process of separation from his sister, assuring that he is not in dispute with him. The brother-in-law, who says he has”carefree“with Jean Alesi, however, filed a complaint for the degradation of the frame of his window, said Mr. Wolff.

Jean Alesi’s son and his friend have also been taken into custody, to determine whether they are not complicit in this act. “I am quite skeptical about the notion of a “joke” performed at 10pm, without the person concerned knowing who it is, and everyone is heard in order to check if there is no other mobile“, added Antoine Wolff.