Sebastian Vettel

Vettel holds a karting event exclusive to females in Saudi Arabia

Kevin Peterson07 mins

Aston Martin F1 driver Sebastian Vettel held a karting event exclusive to females in Saudi Arabia to address the nation’s social issues with positivity. Much has been made of the troubles surrounding human rights and attitudes to the LGBTQ+ community in Saudi Arabia, as was the case in Qatar previously, but Vettel wanted to take a different approach, that being to focus on the positives. The four-time world champion decided to set up a karting event for women which was inspired by the 2018 ruling which gave women the right to drive alone in Saudi Arabia. “If you look from a Western or European lens, that there’s still lots of things that should be improved and have to be addressed – but it’s also true that some things are changing. And for those people, they make a huge difference,” Vettel said. “There’s been a lot of talk and thought heading into the race here, the first time we race in Saudi Arabia, there are a lot of questions that have been asked and I’ve asked myself. “I was thinking of what I can do. In general, we have so much attention or so much focus on negative examples when it comes to shortcomings of certain countries, in regards to maybe human rights and other things, but I really try to think of the positives. “And so I set up my own karting event today under the hashtag Race For Women. And we had a group of seven or eight girls and women on the track. “I was trying to pass on some of my experiences in life and obviously on track, to do something together to grow their confidence. Some of them had a licence, others they did not, some of them were huge F1 enthusiasts, others had nothing to do with Formula 1 or racing before today. “It was a good mix of women from different backgrounds and a great event, everybody was extremely happy. “And I was, I have to say, very inspired by their stories and their background, their positivity about the change in the country. “This way it was important to get to know some of these women. And I think it was a very, very memorable and inspiring day and a great way to kick-off the weekend by focusing on the positive.” Vettel also believes that negatives are present throughout the world, and so it is not fair for him to necessarily be the judge of what is right or wrong when visiting nations like Saudi Arabia. And so, while the changes that needs to happen will take time, he feels the best course of action is to celebrate the good which already has happened. “It’s clear that some things aren’t going the way they should, but that’s our point of view. And it’s also probably true that things are always taking time,” he explained. “I would love to change the world in some things overnight. But who am I to judge about right and wrong? I think that’s a slippery slope. “It’s true that in some countries, some shortcomings are bigger than others. I think there’s trouble in Germany, there’s trouble in the UK when it comes to individual freedom, probably to a different scale and level. “But I feel that we don’t really get anywhere by just highlighting the negatives and being so negative, because in the end, it makes you sad. “Much more inspiring I find is to highlight the positives, and listen to those who have been touched and whose life has been improved. “And to see today these women, the confidence they had, and maybe in an area that is male dominated when it comes to driving or racing, to give them the chance and the focus, I think it’s been great. “And it’s given me a lot of pleasure as well, even though it wasn’t a race or something that maybe people imagined, but just the fact that I’m spending time and giving something back and some of my experience, they really enjoyed that.

Vettel visited hospitalised Grosjean at 6am after Bahrain crash

Kevin Peterson02 mins

Sebastian Vettel was one of the first to visit Romain Grosjean in hospital after his fiery Bahrain GP crash, and told the Frenchman to “go home and rest”. Grosjean suffered a horrific accident at last year’s Bahrain Grand Prix, the Haas driver crashing into a barrier at speed, his car splitting in two and bursting into flames. 28 seconds later he climbed from the wreckage, miraculously suffering only a few burns and a torn tendon in his left thumb. He was taken to hospital for immediate treatment, visited the next morning by Vettel. But while Grosjean was keen to get back in the car immediately, Vettel, also a father of three, urged him to go home and be with his family. “On Monday, November 30, I woke up at six in the morning,” he said in his autobiography, ‘La Mote En Face’, written by the driver and his journalist wife Marion Grosjean. “Someone arrived very early and in a rather unexpected way: Sebastian Vettel. He was worried about me. “Seb is probably the driver that I feel closest to. He is living the same life as me with his three children and wants to protect that life as much as possible. “When I told him I wanted to race the last race he said, ‘No, you need to go home and rest!’ “I explained to him that it was the end of my career and that I did not want to end this way.”

Aston Martin not letting go of Vettel any soon ‘he effectively pays his own salary’

Kevin Peterson04 mins

Four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel is a “finished man” but it is unlikely that the Aston Martin F1 Team will fire him, former F3000 driver Jason Watt has said. Vettel has struggled in the opening two rounds of the 2021 Championship with Aston Martin, and Watt said it is clear that he is still under pressure despite him leaving Ferrari at the end of 2020. However, Watt believes Aston Martin won’t sack the German even if his form doesn’t improve, as “he effectively pays his own salary.” “Vettel is a finished man. It’s a very long time since he did anything good. He also makes many mistakes and looks like a man under pressure,” Watt said. “I don’t know if he can keep it up mentally. I do hope he stays the year, because he’s probably clinging to the hope that things will start to go his way all of a sudden.” Continuing, he said: “People talk about him being an expensive guy for the team, but you also have to consider that he will have attracted a lot of sponsorship money, so he effectively pays his own salary.” While there’s no doubt that Vettel’s start to life as an Aston Martin driver hasn’t exactly gone to plan, it’s far too early to say he’s a “finished man.” Firstly, it should be recognised that all drivers who have joined new teams this season are struggling, so Vettel being outperformed by Lance Stroll shouldn’t be a major cause for concern for him at this point. Furthermore, as Vettel completed the fewest number of laps of any driver during pre-season testing in Bahrain, due to a number of reliability issues on his AMR21, it’s not surprising that he is struggling after just two races with his new team. Lastly, we need to take into account Aston Martin falling down the pecking order this season and currently having one of the slowest cars on the grid. Even if they are able to improve their package and get on top of the issues that are hurting their performance, it’s unlikely they will recover to having the third-fastest car on the grid, as they did last season. So, we shouldn’t expect podiums from Vettel this year, but as long as he can outscore or at least match Stroll over the course of 2021, his move to Aston Martin can be considered a success and will leave them in a strong position for 2022 when F1’s new regulations will be introduced.