Sebastian Vettel has not ‘retired’ his views, so he must find them a new platform

Henry Valantine
Sebastian Vettel Miami climate tshirt. Miami May 2022

Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel wearing a Miami climate tshirt. Miami May 2022

Sebastian Vettel has said he will be looking for another way to continue fighting for causes close to him, now he has retired as a Formula 1 driver.

Alongside Lewis Hamilton, Vettel had been one of the leading voices on the grid in support of issues such as LGBTQ+ rights, climate change and more, having worn multiple special helmets and shirts in the paddock and on track in recent seasons to highlight causes he is supporting.

But he will not have such a wide audience for his activism moving forward after he stepped away from Formula 1, even though he finally took the plunge and created a social media presence with an Instagram account to announce his retirement last summer.

The four-time World Champion is ready to take some time away from the limelight after almost 16 seasons in the sport, but is not going to stop continuing to highlight what is important to him.

“Obviously, my views will not be retired and abandoned,” Vettel told reporters, quoted by GPFans. “But in which form [they continue], I have to figure it out.

“I’m very much looking forward to having nothing scheduled and no commitments.

“What that does to me? It will do a lot of things to my head and to the dynamics, but I’m curious to find out what exactly that will be.

“No commitments, nothing that I signed up for, and I have to do, sort of thing.

“But I have lots of ideas and things I would love to do, but they are not like thick commitments.”

Vettel’s range of subjects he has looked to bring attention towards has grown over time, highlighting one cause further by adopting 61 bees on behalf of Nicholas Latifi as his ‘Secret Santa’ present for Christmas, with one of his aims being to help protect the world’s bee population.

“The more I look, and the more I get into all of this, there’s a lot of people that are doing great things,” Vettel explained of his additional interests.

“It’s great to raise awareness here, and then spread a seed and just make people look at what’s going on, and help to understand.

“I think once you understand, you start to care, and once you care, you’re happy to help.”

The FIA recently announced that political or religious statements on the grid would not be allowed without their approval from this season onwards, which they claim is to try and maintain the “political neutrality” of Formula 1.

Read more: Audi planning to hire development driver in 2023 to help with F1 project