Sebastian Vettel Calls Out ‘Climate Crime’ Ahead of F1’s Canadian GP

IMAGO / HochZwei

Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel has frequently used his platform to raise awareness for various issues, such as the discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community and climate change. 

Ahead of this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, the German driver was seen wearing a shirt that highlighted “Canada’s climate crime,” mining tar sands. 

Vettel was asked about the shirt during Friday’s driver press conferences, and he revealed that he will have a special helmet this weekend. 

“We live in a time and age where we are so much aware of a lot of things. I think, you know what happens in Alberta is a crime because you chop down a lot of trees, and you basically destroy the place just to extract oil,” he said. “And the manner of doing it with the tar sands, mining oil sands, mining is horrible for nature. And obviously Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions also have gone up since they started doing it.”

The Aston Martin driver said no one contacted him about this issue but rather he researched it on his own.

“The site has only, I think been, as far as I read, founded like 20 years ago. I think the prime minister said that no other country would find these resources and not take them up. I think in principle, you know, every country and every person has their opinions and their stance. My personal opinion is I disagree,” Vettel said. “I think ... there’s so much science around the topic that fossil fuels are going to end and living in a time that we do now these things shouldn’t be allowed anymore, and they shouldn’t happen.”

His stance was reported by Canadian media, and Alberta’s minister for energy Sonya Savage didn’t hesitate to respond. She tweeted a thread, starting with, “I have seen a lot of hypocrisy over the years, but this one takes the cake. A race car driver sponsored by Aston Martin, with financing from Saudi Aramco, complaining about the oilsands. 

“Saudi Aramco has the largest daily oil production of all companies in the world. It is reputed to be the single largest contributor to global carbon emissions, of any company, since 1965.

“Rather than demonizing the oilsands, which is on a path to net-zero, people could look to lowering their own personal carbon footprint. Perhaps a pedal-car for Formula 1?” 

Sustainability is one of the main pillars on Formula One’s plans for the future with the aim to go net-zero carbon by 2030. A hybrid engine that’s expected to launch in 2026 in the cars will have better thermal efficiency, meaning less fuel is used. Thermal efficiency is essentially the amount of energy needed to power an engine, in this case.

As of its announcement in late 2021, Formula One is planning to not only introduce a new engine but also convert to 100% sustainable fuel by ’25. 

Vettel has been outspoken about the global climate crisis, discussing the matter on BBC’s Question Time in May and wore a shirt that read “Miami 2060 —1st Grand Prix Underwater—Act Now or Swim Later” for the inaugural Grand Prix’s Opening Party.