Button on track for Spa after mystery robbery

Jenson Button is back on track after his robbery scare while holidaying in St Tropez last week, after burglars broke into the rented villa as the McLaren driver, his wife and some friends slept.

Reports had said Button was "convinced" the burglars pumped anaesthetic gas into the air conditioning before the break-in, but St Tropez police are sceptical.

A French police source suggesting that the couple had not needed to be rendered unconscious as they appeared to be suffering from hangovers.

“They were obviously the worse for wear that morning and they may have been embarrassed because they didn’t wake up,” the source said.

“People come here to party and there’s lots of drinking. In this case, it seems likely that they had been drinking the night before. The stories of people being gassed are a myth.”

The Royal College of Anesthetists issued a similar statement last year amid claims that Britons were being gassed and burgled in motor homes.

It read: "Despite the increasing numbers of reports of people being gassed in motor-homes or commercial trucks in France, and the warning put out by the Foreign Office for travelers to be aware of this danger, this College remains of the view that this is a myth.

"It is the view of the College that it would not be possible to render someone unconscious by blowing ether, chloroform or any of the currently used volatile anaesthetic agents, through the window of a motor-home without their knowledge, even if they were sleeping at the time.

"If there was a totally safe, odourless, potent, cheap anesthetic agent available to thieves for this purpose it is likely the medical profession would know about it and be investigating its use in anaesthetic practice."

The police spokesman added: "Mr Button's entourage has made this claim as the driver didn't feel well the next day. We have taken blood samples which will be analysed."

Nevertheless 35-year-old Button, appears back on track ahead of next weekend's resumption of action at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.

Strava, a running and cycling GPS tracker app, shows that the 2009 world champion has done a 10km run and well over 100kms of cycling in the wake of the incident.

And Button's manager Richard Goddard said: "Jenson's preparation for the next race in Spa will not be affected."