Sebastian Vettel will climb back into a Red Bull during a race on the Nordschleife
The German world champion will return to the cockpit of a Formula 1 car on the Nordschleife circuit later this year, as part of a special event organized by Red Bull.
Retired from Formula 1 since the end of last season, Sebastian Vettel has spent the beginning of the year away from the spotlight and has devoted more time to his family. However, on Wednesday, he announced that he will be getting back behind the wheel with his former teammate at Red Bull, Daniel Ricciardo, for a special event on the Nordschleife track, which will take place on September 9th.
His single-seater will operate on an environmentally friendly fuel
As part of the famous 12-hour endurance race, the historic Formula 1 track will host the “Red Bull Formula Nurburgring”, bringing together young and veteran drivers for demonstrations behind the wheel of a variety of machines, including F1 cars, NASCARs, and drift machines.
Vettel will reunite with the RB7, with which he dominated the 2011 Formula 1 season. This car achieved 18 poles out of 19 races that season, as well as 12 victories. For the Nordschleife event, it will run on e-fuel, a neutral synthetic fuel, in order to minimize carbon emissions.
Vettel had previously used carbon-neutral fuel for a demonstration while driving Nigel Mansell’s 1992 Formula 1 championship-winning Williams car, during last year’s British Grand Prix.
Asked about the opportunity to be able to return to the Nurburgring, Vettel was delighted: « The legend of the Nordschleife resonates, even though we only drove on the GP track back then. Nevertheless, it will be a great pleasure to drive my RB7 – fueled with e-fuel – on the Nordschleife as part of a show run. »
The environmental issue always at the center of its priorities
Vettel, who has shown a great interest in environmental issues throughout his Formula 1 career, has always expressed his belief that historic race cars could run on carbon-neutral fuel.
“« Motor racing is my passion,” he added. “« It is important for me to show that race cars can operate as efficiently and as fast with a CO2-neutral synthetic fuel. And that is already the case today!”
The displays by Vettel and Ricciardo, who will also be driving the RB8 from 2012, will be the first that F1 cars will perform on the Nordschleife, which is 20.832 km long.
Formula 1 has not returned to official competition on this track since the 1976 German Grand Prix, won by James Hunt in his McLaren.
The last appearance of an F1 on this long track dates back to 2007, when Nick Heidfeld performed two demonstration laps at the wheel of his BMW-Sauber.
