Four-time Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel said he sympathized with the environmental protesters who invaded the British Grand Prix circuit on Sunday. Vettel, who has been an outspoken climate advocate for some time, admitted that the activists’ protest may have put people’s lives at risk.
Activists from the Just Stop Oil group had broken through the fence and sat on the track on the first lap of Silverstone, shortly after Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu suffered a massive high-speed crash at turn one. The race was stopped immediately, but five protesters took to the track on the Wellington straight while the cars were still making their way back to the pits. They were removed by authorities shortly after.
Their methods of protest were widely condemned as dangerous, but Lewis Hamilton expressed his support for their cause and Vettel also felt they were acting out of genuine fear of the scale of the climate emergency.
“Everyone is free to have their own view on this,” Vettel said. “These people are not acting out of frustration, but they are desperate and I have a lot of sympathy for their fears and anxieties, which I think anyone who understands the scale of the problem facing us can understand.
“On the other hand, I see the other side. There are marshals who try to stop people from doing such things. You risk people who participate in the race weekend, drivers, marshals. So there are two sides. I think the message was very clear and, as I said, I fully sympathize with their fears and concerns.”
James Skeet, a spokesman for the group, said he believed the action had been successful in drawing attention to their cause. “Unfortunately, we ran out of time,” he said. “We are in a dire situation.”
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz won the race, with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez second and Mercedes’ Hamilton third. When asked about the protests after the race, Hamilton expressed his support. “I like that people are fighting for the planet. So we need more people like them,” he said. He later posted on Instagram clarifying that he disapproved of their methods.
“While I will always support those who stand up for what they believe in, it must be done safely,” he wrote. “Please don’t jump onto our racetracks to protest, we don’t want to put you in danger.”
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Hamilton’s third place equaled his best finish of the year and he also led a race for the first time this season. He was cautiously optimistic about his Mercedes’ performance at Silverstone as F1 heads into this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix.
“It’s extremely encouraging that we’ve been in the fight,” he said. “For a good period of time I kept the pace of the Ferrari, even better at some stages and we got the fastest lap at the end, which I don’t think we’ve been able to do this year. I don’t think we’re in a winning position yet, but we’re not far off.”
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