‘Avoid language which discourages women’: Sebastian Vettel criticizes Stefano Domenicali’s statement about the unlikeliness of women entering F1
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Sebastian Vettel (L) and Stefano Domenicali (R)
Recently, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali talked about what steps are being taken to increase the presence of women in the Formula 1 family. He discussed that there was a need to improve the system, starting with karting, as the general consensus is that there are not enough girls in karting, and so they often do not have enough time to hone their skills.
He also gave out a rather eyebrow-raising statement. Speaking to the media, he said it was unlikely Formula 1 would have women in its ranks within the next five years, that is unless: “Realistically speaking, I don’t see a girl in Formula One in the next five years unless something like a sort of meteorite comes into the earth. That is very unlikely.”
Domenicali was, of course, just trying to be realistic and temper the expectations of the people. There is certainly a long way to go for women to compete in the sport, but progress has been made, even though more work needs to be done. It is, however, a curious choice of words, and Sebastian Vettel thinks as much.
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Sebastian Vettel on Stefano Domenicali’s statement: “A very unlucky choice of words”
As reported by RaceFans, Sebastian Vettel feels that Stefano Domenicali’s meteorite statement could serve to discourage women from entering motorsport. It is already not easy for women to work in an extremely male-dominated industry, and statements like these may discourage them further.
He said: “I know Stefano and I think it is – I haven’t read, exactly – a very unlucky choice of words.” and clarified: “Because it’s statements like that I guess women or girls are probably confronted with when they grow up and sharing their dreams, sitting at breakfast saying ‘I want to become a racing driver’.”
Vettel feels it is important for people to be careful with their words: “And then the father might have just read exactly that statement and making it clear to her that ‘but you do like other things, why not focus on other things?’ And then maybe they do focus on other things and drop racing or the idea. So it’s important that we don’t say these things because there’s [bright] sparks everywhere.”
Sebastian Vettel doesn’t feel there is any reason why Formula 1 can’t have women on the grid, so he does the opposite (of what Stefano did) and encourages every girl to speak up, and as such, and wants to prove doubters and people that think women can’t do ‘these things’ wrong. He concluded by saying that this kind of ‘stereotype’ has to disappear completely.
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