Sebastian Vettel express his ‘surprise’ on F1 dropping anti-racism gesture

Sebastian Vettel express his ‘surprise’ on F1 dropping anti-racism gesture

Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel

F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali recently announced F1’s decision not to move on with the Pre-race Kneeling ceremony from 2022 as part of its ‘We Race as One’ movement which represents F1’s call for inclusiveness and its anti-racism stand, saying “it’s the matter of gesture, to action”. Formula 1 will continue to display a short video promoting the WRAO message in the pre-race build-up with branding also to be displayed trackside.

The decision had mixed reactions from the F1 community and now the 4 times F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel, who has always stood for initiatives and movements which concern the social or civil rights of individuals, has expressed his opinion at the launch of the Aston Martin AMR22.

Find out what Sebastian Vettel had to say about F1 scrapping pre-race Kneeling   

Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel

Sebastian Vettel, when asked whether drivers had been counseled of Formula 1’s plan not to move on with anti-racism gestures, replied that the drivers weren’t advised about dropping the pre-race anti-racism gesture and went on to say that he was surprised about the decision as he does not find the issue the gesture aims to tackle going away within two years. Sebastian Vettel expressed his hope that the F1 drivers will come forth and find ways to voice for topics that are of concern.

FS Video

 “No, they just changed. I was a bit surprised. I think the issues we were tackling are not going to be gone within two years and therefore I was a bit surprised. I hope that as drivers, we find a way to get together and find a slot, still expressing topics that are important to us,” Sebastian Vettel said.

Sebastian Vettel expressed his opinion on why the gesture was dropped as the initiative may have got too strong and too individual for the business side of F1 as not all the drives are on the same basket when comes to multiple issues as they some care less about things that others care.

“Probably not all the drivers care, but a lot of us really do care. It will be great to get together but probably it was getting a bit too strong and too individual for the business side of things,” Sebastian Vettel added.

Sebastian Vettel will join Lance Stroll in Aston Martin for the 2022 season and will be hoping to get back to the winning start after a disappointing debut last year.

Also read: Toto Wolff ‘pleased’ with the progress in developing a more diverse and inclusive Mercedes team