Sebastian Vettel has confessed that climate change worries are making him reconsider his decision to compete in Formula One.
On Thursday evening, the four-time world champion, who has lobbied for various environmental initiatives and talked frequently about his climate worries, became the first active F1 driver to join the BBC Question Time panel.
During lockdown in 2020, Vettel did a bio-farming internship, assisted in the construction of a bee hotel at a school ahead of last year’s Austrian Grand Prix, and helped clean up garbage from the grandstands following the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
When asked if being an F1 driver made him a hypocrite by Question Time host Fiona Bruce, Vettel, whose Aston Martin team has a title sponsorship with Saudi oil company Aramco, said: “It does.”
“There’s questions I ask myself every day. I’m not a saint. I’m very concerned when it comes to the future [and] these topics, when it comes to energy, energy dependence and where we are going in the future.
“When it comes to energy, we need to stop being dependent, and we can, because there are solutions in place.
“You know, in Britain, you have this sort of goldmine you’re sitting on, which is wind, and you have the ability to increase your energy supply with wind power, solar.
“Every country has its strengths and weaknesses. If you go to Austria, they have the Alps and they have water, they can pump it up, store it, and get it back down.
“But getting back to your point, yeah it is true and it’s something that I’m asking myself.”
Asked to clarify if he meant whether he should be racing in F1, Vettel, whose contract is due to expire at the end of the season, replied:“Yeah, and travelling the world. There are certain things that are in my control, and certain things are not.
“It’s my passion to drive a car. I love it. Every time I step in the car, I love it.
“When I get out of the car, of course I’m thinking as well: ‘Is this something we should do, travel the world, wasting resources?’
“On the other hand, you know, we were entertaining people during Covid,” he added.
“We were one of the first ones to start again, when everybody’s heads were about to explode, there were Formula 1 races back on.
“I’m not saying Formula 1 has this huge position in the world to deliver entertainment. There’s plenty of people – if you talk about entertainment, sports, culture, comedy – a lot of people who couldn’t perform, and a lot of people missed that. And I think if we didn’t have that, in general, we’d probably go mad.
“But there’s a lot of these questions I ask myself. There’s a lot of things that I do because I feel I can do them better. Do I take the plane every time? No, not when I can take the car.
‘But there’s certain things in my control, and certain things outside my control.”