Due to his environmental concerns, Sebastian Vettel has revealed that in his final season in F1 he often drove himself to European races.

Unlike some of the 'elites' who believe that it is 'okay for me but not for thee', that means you Leonardo, the German, who in recent years has increasingly taken on a role as an environmental activist, thought it was wrong to voice such concerns whilst flying from race to race in private jets.

Therefore in his final season in the sport he invariably drove to events.

"A few years ago, I started measuring my carbon footprint," he tells the Red Bull website. "I wrote down every car kilometre, every flight, every overnight stay.

"Seeing this figure compared to that of the average consumer knocked my socks off," he admits. "After that, I took measures to get the value down.

"Most of the reduction was cutting out flights. Except for Silverstone and Budapest, I travelled to all the European races by car last season.

"I don't want to dictate to anyone or make myself out to be an angel," he explains, "but that's how I started with myself. It didn't feel like going without, but rather as completely logical, like all the other smaller ones that I had taken in parallel. I felt very satisfied."

Since walking away from the sport at the end of last season, the four-time world champion has made a number of appearances, most notably at Goodwood, driving classic F1 cars from his collection, all powered by carbon-neutral fuels.

"As a teenager, your driver's license was your ticket to freedom," he says. "In motorsport, I used to drive a lot at first and soon got tired of driving long distances on the road. That's how the plane came into play, and later the private plane, because the time savings were extreme. But the step back felt good. Plan things better, take things into your own hands.

"I couldn't have sailed to Australia, otherwise I would have missed the race, or at least the one that followed. But whenever I could, I enjoyed being back on land and seeing things I would have missed on a plane. I noticed that the supposed loss of time is not actually a loss."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by yakker, 22/08/2023 13:49

"is that it’s a huge “waste” of money, just like almost all things that humans do."

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2. Posted by BrightonCorgi, 20/08/2023 13:53

"What cars was he driving to the races?

I saw him a bicycle once on race day ahead of the Canadian GP once. It was more for morning exercise than economical transport. Cool to see him out riding though."

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3. Posted by Chester, 19/08/2023 18:55

"A clear signal he was done. "

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4. Posted by elsiebc, 19/08/2023 16:57

"Be true to yourself, even when you're wrong."

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5. Posted by Ricardo_sanchez, 19/08/2023 15:00

"Fair play to him. At least he was making an effort. F1 faces a conundrum. Part of its attraction, as George Harrison once highlighted, is that it’s a huge “waste” of money. The excessive spending - in all areas - is glamorous, exciting and addictive. Now it needs to find a way to reduce the conspicuous consumption without losing the glamour. "

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6. Posted by jcr, 19/08/2023 14:57

"And I bet not one journalist or publication picked up on this in the whole season ¡ !
Well done Seb."

Vettel drove to races in final season

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