Vettel admits his environmental hypocrisy

Vettel admits his environmental hypocrisy
14 February 2022 by    2 min read
 2

Feb.14 - Outspoken environmentalist Sebastian Vettel has acknowledged the "extreme dichotomy" of wearing the name of the world's biggest oil company on his chest and Formula 1 car in 2022.

Aston Martin has sealed a massive title sponsorship deal with Aramco - the state owned Saudi oil giant Aramco - at precisely the same time as quadruple world champion Vettel is predicting the demise of the industry.

"Fossil fuels will die out - hopefully very soon," he told Radaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland.

Vettel, 34, said companies like Aramco need to "ask themselves how they want to shape the future".

"It can be an opportunity," he also told the German broadcaster RTL. "More needs to be done, new paths need to be explored."

As for his own personal situation, Vettel admitted the "extreme dichotomy" of simultaneously representing the world's biggest oil giant whilst maintaining his anti-fossil fuel stance.

When asked if that is a dilemma, he added: "That's right.

"None of this is happening fast enough for me," said Vettel when contemplating the next steps for the energy industry and planet.

"We have to tackle the problems now and find solutions. Formula 1 offers so many opportunities to point the way to the future of mobility, but it's true that the different interests stand in each other's way.

"The goal must therefore be to bring about as much change as possible from within. The pressure from the outside is growing and Formula 1 will be in trouble if it doesn't adapt."

As for Aston Martin's massive Aramco deal, Vettel insisted that it was "not my decision".

"But it's a good thing that these questions are asked," he said. "I know that my job is not very environmentally conscious and not very sustainable, so I don't see myself as a role model in that respect."

Rather, he sees himself as a single voice to "inspire and convince as many people as possible that we can shape a better future".

Vettel, and his teammate Lance Stroll, have now taken Aston Martin's 2022 car for its maiden runs at Silverstone.

Eagle-eyed technical experts are not sure what to think of the Mercedes-powered car. "The Aston Martin looks really ugly," well-known F1 technical analyst Giorgio Piola commented.

Aston Martin technical boss Andy Green commented: "We designed the concept so that we can react quickly.

"For example, we designed the radiators so that we can change the shape of the sidepods at any time. I expect the cars to converge faster than usual in terms of design," he added.

✅ Check out more posts with related topics:

2 F1 Fan comments on “Vettel admits his environmental hypocrisy”

  1. SickofActivists

    Crude oil is organic and harvested, just like crops. There's currently no alternative fuel source that can be harnessed in sufficient quantities to power society. Technological advancements over the last 50-years have SIGNIFICANTLY increased extraction and emission standards to the point where those demanding change are essentially environmental hypochondriacs. They're largely illiterate when it comes to the facts and science. Sound familiar?
    .
    The pressure from ACTIVITSTS and GOVERNMENTS to ban crude oil is like telling a COVID patient there's no treatment protocols available and their only choice is to wait until they're so sick that they have to be hospitalized, put on a ventilator and die.
    .
    It's suicide and it's psychotic. That's the world we live in.

    2
    1

    3. ✅ Checkout the latest 50 F1 Fans comments.

Comments are closed.