“The culmination of hypocrisy” – Environment Minister attacks Vettel
Sebastian Vettel with a protest shirt in Montreal
Those: pa / DPPI media / DPPI
Sebastian Vettel has been committed to environmental protection for some time. He also caused a stir in Canada with a protest message on his T-shirt. The environment minister responsible cannot believe it.
NAfter Sebastian Vettel’s protest about the so-called tar sand mining in Canada, the environment minister of the state concerned publicly defended herself and for her part found clear words for the German Formula 1 driver. “I’ve seen a lot of hypocrisy over the years, but this is the crowning glory,” Alberta’s Energy Secretary Sonya Savage wrote on Twitter in an article detailing Vettel’s statements ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix.
“A Saudi Aramco-financed Aston Martin driver complains about oil sands,” the politician wrote, referring to the team’s main sponsor. Aramco is considered the largest oil production company in the world, the company comes from Saudi Arabia.
The print on Vettel’s shirt
Those: pa / ATP photo agency / PEDICELLI Paolo
Vettel once said before the season that it was obvious “that the oil companies as a whole have to ask themselves how they want and need to shape the future. I think this can be an opportunity to hopefully make a little impact to change things a little bit for the better.”
“It’s a horror for nature,” says Vettel
In Montréal, Vettel followed up his T-shirt campaign – it bore the inscription “Stop tar sand mining – Canada’s climate crime” – in the official press conference before the ninth race of the season. What is happening in Alberta is a crime. “It’s a horror for nature. Something like that shouldn’t be allowed,” emphasized the soon to be 35-year-old four-time world champion.
Alberta Secretary of State Sonya Savage
Those: pa / ZUMAPRESS.com / Todd Korol
Instead of demonizing the oil sands, which, according to the politician, are on the way to climate neutrality, people could reduce their own CO2 footprint. “Maybe with pedal cars for Formula 1?” Wrote the politician.
According to Greenpeace, the extraction of oil from the clay and sand mixture differs massively from the conventional extraction of crude oil. The oil sand layer is therefore about 30 meters deep. To get there, Canada’s primeval forests have been cleared and the topsoil removed. Only then can the mixture of sand, clay and tar-like oil be lifted out of the ground.
Vettel is very conscious of his actions as a racing driver. “What I do is not very environmentally conscious and not sustainable. So I’m not a role model in that regard – and I can’t possibly be one,” he once said in an RTL interview.
