Willi Weber, the long-time manager who steered Michael Schumacher’s rise to seven world titles, has been violently robbed at his home in Stuttgart.
The 83-year-old was ambushed by three masked intruders at his villa, according to Bild. Weber, his wife and a housekeeper were tied to chairs and threatened with a gun and other weapons as the attackers demanded the code to a safe. Weber resisted before being punched repeatedly in the face, sustaining a black eye, bruising to his forehead and a cut on his nose.
“They wanted the code for the safe. I refused to give it to them and then they kept punching me in the face,” Weber told the newspaper. “I feel terrible. I’m in complete shock.”
The thieves escaped with cash, jewellery and watches worth hundreds of thousands of euros. Among the timepieces stolen were some of Weber’s most prized: a Patek Philippe Nautilus Chronograph 5980 (valued at no less than €100,000), a Rolex Day-Date II in platinum (around €50,000) and an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore (approximately €25,000). In the past, Weber had joked about wanting “a coffin with drawers” so he could take his watches with him — gallows humour that reads differently now.
Weber eventually managed to free himself after more than two hours and raise the alarm. Paramedics treated him at the scene; he didn’t require hospitalisation. His wife and housekeeper suffered minor bruising from being restrained. Police are reviewing security video from the property as part of an ongoing investigation.
“They knew what they were doing,” Weber said. “Everything is gone! Even my watches. I must have been spied on for weeks. They came in and knew everything.”
Weber’s daughter rushed to the house in the aftermath. “She’s helping me,” he added, while confirming he’s now under protection from bodyguards.
The robbery comes as Weber, one of the most recognisable player-managers in modern motorsport, nears the twilight of a life lived in the paddock glare. He was the architect behind Schumacher’s path from junior single-seaters to Benetton and then Ferrari, and also worked at various points with Ralf Schumacher and Nico Hülkenberg. Even in retirement from day-to-day racing, Weber has remained a figure of fascination for F1 fans, owing to his role in shaping Schumacher’s era-defining career.
Schumacher himself has not been seen in public since suffering a severe head injury in a skiing accident in December 2013. Weber has largely stepped back from public commentary on Schumacher in recent years, but his name remains interlinked with the driver who became the heartbeat of Ferrari’s dominant 2000s run.
In Stuttgart, investigators are piecing together how the robbers targeted Weber’s villa. The manager rejected the notion that the attack may be tied to the recent public listing of his property for sale. “Surely it must be possible to sell a house in this country without being robbed,” he said. “What kind of country do we live in if you’re no longer safe in your own home?”
Beyond the headlines and the watch lists, this is a grim, human story: an elderly couple terrorised in their own dining room, a housekeeper bound, a family scrambling to the scene. The details are chilling, the photos reportedly worse. It’s the sort of crime that sparks outrage in any community. In F1 circles, it will resonate even more: Weber isn’t just a name from the past, he’s a man whose decisions helped shape the sport’s most dominant chapter.
For now, police work continues in Stuttgart. Weber recovers at home, bruised but defiant. And the paddock — never short on opinion — will surely close ranks around one of its veteran kingmakers, hoping the perpetrators are found as quickly as they moved.
