On a hot afternoon, Sebastian Vettel sets off into the forest with a primary school class. What does the four-time Formula 1 world champion want with this?
Sebastian Vettel mixes a smoothie in a small clearing behind the legendary Nordschleife of the Nürburgring.
On this hot September afternoon, the four-time Formula 1 world champion chooses apple juice, banana and self-collected Douglas fir needles for the cool mixed drink. “Can you really drink that?” asks one of the elementary school students. Yes, you can, and the Douglas fir smoothie doesn’t taste that bad.
Vettel explores the forest behind the former Formula 1 track together with the forester and author Peter Wohlleben, who lives and works in the region, and a fourth grade class from neighboring Wershofen. Children should be introduced to nature through play. To do this, they use a tree telephone in the Eifel, sow sycamore maple seeds or mix smoothies. At the end, the primary school students also receive a certificate and can call themselves “Green Rangers”.
“Everyone should do a lot more”
“We should all do a lot more. The time to do something is not today, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, it was already yesterday. The important thing is that change starts in the head. You have to think about what you have in your own hands.” , Vettel called for more commitment to environmental protection in an interview with the German Press Agency.
It’s not about slogans like radical or renunciation, “but everyone can do a lot for themselves, even if it’s small. You have to start with it, that’s the crucial thing. This can then become more and more. That can be positive sense contagious and inspiring for the next generation,” says Vettel. For example for a fourth grade class from Wershofen.
Sustainability and environmental protection became increasingly important to Vettel towards the end of his Formula 1 career. In Miami, for example, he warned of floods due to rising sea levels and in Montreal he criticized the extraction of oil sands, which would require the clearing of virgin forests.
“The old life is in me and of course the passion for motorsport is in me. The sport is important to me, it has shaped me throughout my life and has given me so much. But I think we have to move up the next gear or a few gears higher and try to make the whole thing more responsible,” emphasizes Vettel.
Care for the planet
“It’s about the planet, but above all it’s about ourselves, about our lives as we have grown to love them and about the freedom we enjoy. I grew up in such a free country and we should pass that on .”
Vettel recently opened insect hotels in Suzuka to raise awareness of biodiversity. “It’s simply a miracle that everything in nature meshes together and is so perfectly coordinated. If you were to draw a parallel to racing, you would have to say that this perfect setup really exists,” says Vettel. “But we as humanity don’t act so helpfully here and there. We ourselves can do so much good, both large and small.”
Vettel became estranged from Formula 1, which is why he ended his career at the end of last season. Since then, he has devoted more time to his wife and three children as well as to his sustainability projects. But he can’t live without the premier motorsport class, as his appearance in Japan at the end of September showed.
Formula 1 comeback (almost) impossible
Will Formula 1 lure him back again? “You can never rule out something like that, but at some point the time will be over. My age wasn’t the issue and it was my decision to draw the line. But I didn’t draw it just to cancel it a year later,” said Vettel .
“I have the privilege of spending more time with my family and my children, that is a priority. Just as I have rediscovered the world in recent years, Formula 1, no matter how big it may be, always has become smaller.”
Vettel is also keeping a motorsport comeback open in the sports car world championship. He could compete in the Endurance World Championship in the future. Tests for the British Jota team led by German team boss Dieter Gass are under discussion.
Vettel has not yet developed any concrete professional plans. “But that was exactly my intention: not to immediately take on the next task or get into the next cockpit and first get to know the side of me that can try everything and has time,” explained Vettel.
“I’m living in a phase where you can feel and discover yourself a little differently. At the same time, I really enjoy spending time with my family. That’s why I can’t give this dream answer as to what will be on my number line in the future.”