Sebastian Vettel admitted that he is questioning his future in Formula 1 not because of the poor performance of his team, Aston Martin at the start of the season, but because of the negative impact his sport has had on the environment.
Formula 1 cars are themselves hybrids and are on track to ban fossil fuels from their combustion engines by 2026 (currently, 10% is biofuel in the mix). But the bigger problem, as the four-time champion pointed out, is the displacement of tons of equipment from side to side in a schedule, which is decided from a commercial standpoint, not a logistical one. The final four stages were held on different continents: Saudi Arabia in Asia, Australia in Oceania, Italy in Europe and Miami in the Americas.
“It’s my passion to drive, I love it, I love it every time I get in the car. When I get out of the car, of course I’m thinking ‘Is this something Should we?’, traveling the world, wasting resources”, the German explained.
“We’re entertaining people. During the pandemic, we were one of the first to start. When everyone’s heads were about to explode, we had F1 racing. I’m not saying that the Formula 1 world I have such a great position to offer entertainment. [Mas] Be it sports, culture, comedy, a lot of people who couldn’t perform, and a lot of people missed it. I guess if we didn’t have that, we’d probably go crazy. But there are a lot of questions that I ask myself, because I think I can do better.”
Since his time at Ferrari, Vettel has begun to use other means of transport besides planes to get to races closer to where he lives in Switzerland. And early last year he sold several cars from his collection, acknowledging that it was because of his concern for the environment, as well as other reasons.
Pilot is very active on issues related to the environment as well as social injustice, and is using his image to draw attention to various causes. However, he wonders whether it is hypocritical for him to speak up on these matters and continue touring the world with F1.
“There are things that I ask myself every day. I’m not a saint. I worry a lot about the future about these topics like energy, energy addiction and where are we going in the future. But some things There are things I can control and other things that are out of my control.”
The statements were made in a very different environment than Vettel was used to. He participated in the BBC’s Question Time, a traditional UK debate programme. Every week a panel discusses various subjects, with at least one Member of Parliament present.
