Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel has been dedicating much of his time and energy to environmental advocacy since his departure from Formula 1. At the São Paulo Grand Prix, he recently drew attention to the deforestation of the Amazon in a playful way – with coloring pages. “The most important thing is to plant a seed in everyone’s mind. That’s where it all starts,” says Vettel.
“When I started speaking more openly about my environmental concerns a few years ago, I received so many positive responses from people who were inspired and began to change small habits in their lives,” Sebastian Vettel shares.
“To give you an example: I received a beautiful letter from a Dutch girl who saw me picking up trash in the stands at Silverstone. She wrote that she had agreed with her parents to follow my example and collect trash on every walk they take together. I think that’s fantastic. Because how many walks will she take with her family for the rest of her life? If that girl picks up a piece of trash on every walk, we’re talking about a large container by the time she’s an adult. It gives me immense satisfaction when I can touch someone in this way.”
How much impact do you hope to make with actions like these?
“We often measure impact in terms of money. How much money have you earned at the end of the day or how many products have you sold? The environment is more abstract. This spans generations. Often, we don’t see the problems as long as they don’t directly affect us. But if we look closer, we can see that we are already being affected.”
Do you ever lose sleep over it?
“You know, I’m a numbers person. When you’re in Formula 1, you’re always surrounded by numbers. Lap times, data analyses, that sort of thing. You try to understand everything and change it for tomorrow, because you want to beat the others and be faster. So my instinctive reaction when I started delving into the environment was: ‘Okay, what’s the problem, how big is it and what can we do about it?’ And then I realized: Damn, the problem is massive!”
