Vettel ready for post-F1 retirement fight

Ian Parkes
Wednesday 24 August 2022 08:07

Sebastian Vettel has vowed he will not slip quietly away from the campaigning front once he loses the platform afforded to him by F1.

After winning four titles and 16 seasons in the sport, Vettel will retire from F1 at the end of the year, with a vow there will be no turning back, as others have done such as Fernando Alonso.

F1 will be poorer for Vettel's absence as he has become a spokesperson for a variety of topics such as environmentalism and LGBTQ+ rights.

In part, Vettel has been able to use F1's global status to help promote his causes.

There is a danger that once Vettel steps out of F1's spotlight, similarly with Lewis Hamilton when he eventually retires, the sport will no longer possess the voices to speak out on important issues.

Addressing the prospect, Vettel said: "When it comes to the climate crisis, there is no way that F1 or any sport or business can avoid it because it impacts all of us.

“So maybe we will be pushed back or will be quieter, but the biggest part is that if you look at Lewis and myself, we are older now than we were.

“We have the immense privilege of travelling the world, seeing so many things and if you don’t ignore everything then it does something to you.

"I’m not a stand-out example. I look at my friends around me and their thoughts are very different to what I remember were the thoughts they had when they were in their early 20s."

Vettel feels the political landscape has changed with regard to a number of issues, making it more difficult for the likes of today's young guns to voice their opinion as freely.

It is on this front he feels compelled to ensure that beyond his retirement he remains active and continues to speak out so that those following in his footsteps also have the right platform.

"What hurts me is that I feel that people like George [Russell], Lando [Norris], Charles [Leclerc], they don’t have the same freedoms as maybe Lewis and I had," added Vettel.

"Whoever is coming after them will have even fewer freedoms because it will be more and more central and dictated more and more [as to] the way we are living and have to adapt our lives.

“That, I don’t think is fair and I am prepared to fight for this justice and fairness, for the kids that are go-karting today to be able to have the same racing career that I had.”