Thieves have stolen a Formula 1 driver’s Ferrari. It appeared 28 years later.

As a driver on the glamorous, jet-setting Formula 1 circuit, Austrian Gerhard Berger naturally drove some serious iron, even off the track: a red Ferrari 512M Testarossa.

So it was very likely that it was with some dismay that he saw his car driving away unexpectedly with someone else behind the wheel.

The theft occurred during the 1995 San Marino Grand Prix in Imola, Italy. According to reports at the time, Berger jumped into the path of the car, but he had to jump out of the way as it zoomed out.

He is then playful gave chase in a friend’s Volkswagen Golf, which went exactly as you expected. The Ferrari was gone.

But good news: the car has been found. And it only lasted 28 years.

The whereabouts of the car were unknown until earlier this year, when Ferrari contacted the Metropolitan Police in London about a suspicious vehicle being sold by a British estate agent.

Police determined the car had been sent to Japan shortly after it was stolen and then brought to Britain late last year.

No arrests have been made. A second Ferrari stolen from French driver Jean Alesi during the same Grand Prix remains missing.

Why would this car in particular attract a thief, or the people who hired it to steal it?

The Testarossa is one of Ferrari’s best-known brands, originally manufactured in 1984. The 512M variant that Berger drove was made between 1994 and 1996; only 501 were produced. It was the last Testarossa.

Mr. Berger could not be reached for comment. He finished third at the 1995 San Marino Grand Prix but may not have the best memories of the week in Italy.

The theft was brazen, not only because of the way it was carried out, but also because of the target itself. As Dave North of Wayne, NJ, a Ferrari expert and member of the Ferrari Club of America, Empire State Region, noted, “It takes a lot of guts to steal one. Everyone knows his Ferrari serial number.”

Stephan Markowski of Nyack, NY, another Ferrari expert who has worked on the automaker’s cars for years, had a theory about the car’s enduring popularity. “I fall right into the perfect age of people who love the Testarossa,” he said. “Miami Vice was on TV, and the Testarossa was that iconic white Miami Vice car.”

“It was so ’80s, but it held up remarkably well,” he said. “It’s amazing how well that car has aged.”

Mr. Berger was not the only famous person who chose the car. Baseball star Gary Sheffield pleaded no contest to a reckless driving ban in 1994 after he was caught driving more than 110 miles per hour in a Testarossa on Interstate 4. Michael Jordan picked up a ticket in 1989 when his Testarossa was traveling at 87 mph in a 55 mph zone. Jean-Claude Duvalier, the former Haitian dictator, drove a red Testarossa while in exile on the French Riviera.

The New York Times was not immune to the charms of the Testarossa, to say the least. “Do you want to meet beautiful members of the opposite sex?” asked a news columnist in 1996. “For guaranteed results, buy a Ferrari and cruise the malls. Speaking of which, don’t just buy a Ferrari. Make it the F512M, perhaps the most beautiful and certainly the most recognizable Ferrari ever built.”

The column added: “No other car legally legal to drive in the United States offers a comparable combination of glamour, aesthetics and performance.”

In 1988, not long after the Testarossa was launched, Enzo Ferrari, the company’s founder, died. That further increased the car’s value to collectors, as it was one of the last cars directly associated with him.

Already sold? Police said Mr. Berger’s car was worth 350,000 pounds (about $445,000). Other 512Ms were recently offered for sale online between $500,000 and $700,000.