Sebastian Vettel Gets Racing Offer From Extreme E as F1 Revs to Face “Aftermath” of Its Actions

F1 has been home to a lot of legends. Starting from the old days of Jack Brabham and Jim Clark to modern-day greats like Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, a lot of courageous drivers have found themselves a perfect home with the sport. But there’s one driver who didn’t just find a home in F1 but also found one in almost every fan’s heart. And if you ask fans who they think would be in their top five list of greatest ever, there will be one name that’d be extremely common. Sebastian Vettel.

The German four-time world champion is not only a talented driver but also very outspoken about the conservation of the environment and the future of the planet. He’s a driver who puts sustainability above all else and would do all he can to take the right steps toward it. In fact, he did so just a few months ago. The former Red Bull driver showcased his RB-7 around Nordschleife with synthetic fuel to promote sustainability. While that was more like a show run, it looks like Vettel might just have another chance to promote sustainability while also competing!

Alejandro Agag, the founder of Extreme E, had a conversation with F1 Insider. Seeing as Vettel retired from F1 at the end of 2022 and has been working toward sustainability since then, Agag was asked if there’s a possibility the four-time champion would join the off-road electric series. Agag candidly replied, “I talked to him a year ago about joining [Extreme E]. I like Sebastian very much. He is a great champion with the right attitude towards our planet. He is always welcome with us.” Sebastian Vettel to Extreme E, or Formula E, would be just the right sort of popularity that these sports need to increase fan-following and, consequently, the money they would be able to put into getting even more sustainable.

Talking about sustainability, it’s no secret that the pinnacle of motorsport is also one of the least eco-friendly sports. According to Agag, this is the one area where F1 is lagging, but it’s how the sport plans to become more sustainable that matters. “Formula 1 is doing a great job, and now it needs to ask itself what comes next. It is currently focusing heavily on synthetic gasoline and hybrid engines. For me, this is a technology of transition. But they still have enough time to position themselves correctly for the aftermath, for what comes next.” [Translated by Google]f

Read More: Ex-Aston Martin Insider Salutes Sebastian Vettel for Leaving Behind Ferrari-Induced Trust Issues to Rebuild F1 Career

That being said, Formula 1 is definitely putting in a lot of effort to make racing and, as a result, road cars as sustainable as possible.

Formula 1’s road to sustainability

While individual teams like Mercedes have their own programs to document and manage their environmental footprint, F1 has taken huge steps towards sustainability over the last decade or so. In fact, the much-disliked switch from V8 engines to hybrid V6 engines was a step in this direction. F1 is also on a sworn mission to ensure that it has net zero carbon emissions from 2030.

Its strategy involves reusing, recycling, and composting waste, helping fans find green ways to travel to and from the circuits, and experimenting with synthetic fuels to reduce carbon emissions from race weekends. Surprisingly, it’s not F1’s on-track action that contributes most to carbon emissions. It’s the logistics of traveling and transportation from one venue to another. To curb this problem, F1 has ‘regionalized’ races in 2024, limiting travel from one part of the world to another. Instead, F1 has scheduled races around the same geographical location together.

2030 is a short seven years from now. Hopefully, F1 will achieve this goal and make racing as sustainable as possible by then.

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