Vettel questions the relevance of his presence in F1
In a television interview, Sebastian Vettel acknowledged that his activities in Formula 1 were probably too disconnected from his fight for the climate.
It is not a secret, Sebastian Vettel is involved in causes that go beyond motorsport. The Aston Martin driver is highly concerned about topics related to climate change and tries to draw public attention to them through his role in Formula 1. During the last Grand Prix in Miami, for instance, he wore a t-shirt depicting an underwater car race in 2060 with the caption: “Act now or swim later” (Agissez maintenant ou nagez plus tard).
In the BBC Question Time show aired on British television, the four-time world champion was asked if it wasn’t hypocritical to be both a Formula 1 driver and an advocate for climate-related causes. To this, Vettel replied, “That’s true. There are questions I ask myself every day. I’m not a saint. I’m very worried about the future.”
« Regarding energy, we must stop being dependent and we can do it because solutions exist. In Great Britain, you have a goldmine that you’re sitting on, which is wind. And you have the capacity to increase your supplies through wind turbines and solar energy,” he added. « Each country has its strengths and weaknesses. If you go to Austria, they have the Alps and a lot of water. They can extract it, store it, and reuse it.
Returning to the initial question regarding his involvement in Formula 1, the former Toro Rosso, Red Bull, and Ferrari driver continued: “It’s true, it’s something that concerns me, just like traveling around the world. There are things that are under my control, others that are not. It’s my passion to drive cars. I love it. And every time I get in a car, I enjoy it. But when I step out of the car, of course, I wonder, ‘Is this something we should be doing?’ Traveling around the world and wasting resources?”
Vettel, however, wanted to emphasize the entertaining aspect of F1: On the other hand, we are people of entertainment. During the Covid period, we were the first sport to resume competition when people’s minds were about to explode. Formula 1 was back. I’m not saying that Formula 1 has a huge role in the world in providing entertainment. There are plenty of other things like culture or comedy. All of this has been greatly missed by people. And if we didn’t have all of that in general, we would probably be crazy.
So yes, there are a lot of questions that I ask myself. There are things that I do that I think I could do better. Do I have to take the airplane every time? No, not when I can take the car. So I repeat, there are things under my control, others that are not.
