Sebastian Vettel garnered a lot of sympathy during his appearance on the BBC television program “Question Time”, comparable to the German ARD format “Hart aber fair”. Not only because of his humorous manner, for example when he teased the British public about Brexit, but also because of his open handling of self-doubt.
The topic of environmental protection and independence from Russian oil and gas is at stake when moderator Fiona Bruce Vettel attacks whether he is a hypocrite for raising such questions when he is also a driver in what is probably the most fossil sport in the world, Formula 1 compete
Vettel reacts confidently to the laughter of the audience. “You’re right that you’re laughing,” he says – and admits that he questions his job every day: Racing is his great passion, “but when I get out of the car, I also think to myself: ‘We should really do, traveling the world and wasting resources?”
Vettel took the subway to record the show in London. But the four-time Formula 1 World Champion admits that he’s not always so mobile: “There are many things I can do better. Do I take the plane every time? No, not if I can drive the car. Some things I have under control, some things I don’t.”
Vettel thinks it’s legitimate to question Formula 1. Whether it is necessary that you have to jet a whole travel convoy through the world for racing cars. “Questions that I ask myself, too,” he emphasizes. On the other hand, not everything about Formula 1 is bad. For example, entertainment was offered again as one of the first sports in the pandemic.
“We were among the first to start when a lot of people’s heads were about to explode. I’m not saying that Formula 1 is so important to bring entertainment to the world. But there are many areas of entertainment – sports, culture, cabaret – that could not take place and that many people were missing. If we didn’t have that, we would go nuts.”
The show is also partly about British domestic politics. For example, when British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s controversial Covid garden parties were discussed, Vettel put on his mischievous grin and said: “When you’re in the position, there are just certain things you can’t bring!”
When it comes to Brexit, which is discussed emotionally between the audience and the politicians present, Vettel has to grin – analogously: “You got yourself into the crap, now you have to spoon it out again!” Instead of booing, Vettel received applause and encouragement for the speech the spectators present.
He encourages the British to resume dialogue with the European Union and, on the subject of environmental protection, which is close to his heart, he once again calls for the earliest possible phase-out of fossil fuels: “The solutions are there. You in the UK are sitting on a real gold mine, which is wind power.”
Every country has different advantages in the energy sector, Vettel is clear – and cites Austria as one of the examples: “They have the Alps and water. They can pump the water up the mountain, store it there – and let it flow down again when they need the energy.” Elsewhere, there is a lot of sun and can therefore rely on solar.
Vettel doesn’t think much of Russian energy supplies. First, because they are indirectly financing the war in Ukraine. According to the Formula 1 driver, innocent people die every day, and all other arguments are secondary, even if they are to be taken very seriously. It is clear to him, he says, that politics must solve complex problems.
In his opinion, there is no alternative to switching to renewable energies, “not only to become more independent, but also so that we can continue to live on a planet worth living in in the future.” In his opinion, many people have not yet understood that fossil fuels will be much more expensive for mankind in the long term than renewable ones.
In his opinion, renewable energy sources should be described as “peace or freedom energy” because, firstly, many wars have been fought over oil in the past and, secondly, a stable and sustainable energy supply is the only chance of affordable electricity and petrol, especially for low earners in the long term will.
Making oneself independent of fossil fuels is also important for political reasons. Britain gets most of its energy from Norway. Even there you can’t know who will be in power at some point, says Vettel – as many didn’t see coming with Vladimir Putin, despite what he thought were sufficient warning signs …
This article was written by Christian Nimmervoll
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The original of this article “Vettel with criticism of Brexit and Johnson, appeal for environmental protection” comes from Motorsport-Total.com.
