Aston Martin F1 driver Vettel has spoken frequently about his environmental interests this season, has attended a number of events and has been involved in various initiatives.
In lockdown last year, Vettel completed an internship in organic farming. He attended an event to build a bee hotel at a school ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix while visiting Iceland between the F1 races at Zandvoort and Monza to attend the opening of an air collection and storage facility.
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Vettel was also seen collecting rubbish from the stands after the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, speaking of the need for F1 to think about climate in the future before Extinction Rebellion protested ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix.
Four-time world champion Vettel said during the Russian Grand Prix weekend that while his profile as an F1 driver can help get the message across on environmental issues, it is more important to him to be involved in credible projects.
“I don’t do these things so that people can look at it,” said Vettel.
“The first thing I always want to make sure is that everything I do makes sense. And it actually helps where we are and whatever we are doing.
“So I should talk about the initiatives for the bees. We have created a room or space for them to live and return. So that’s always the main interest.
“It’s great when people are interested, and it inspires others to do similar things, to think about them, or to question their activities and behaviors just to see how they could possibly contribute.
Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
“But I think the first priority is always to make it believable to me that it makes sense. It’s great to say what to do and talk about, but I think you have to do it yourself too.
“Otherwise I don’t find it authentic.”
Vettel has been speaking louder and louder on environmental issues in recent years, but Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said the German driver had shown signs of increasing interest in the issue towards the end of his time at Maranello.
“I think he has become more sensitive to these issues over the last couple of seasons,” said Binotto.
“He was talking about it so we knew it. It’s great to see that as you get older you usually get older and more sensitive.” [of those topics].
“He’s certainly putting a lot of effort and focus on it. So it’s no surprise, but it’s great to see.”
