Does Monza hold the key to Vettel’s F1 future?

Sebastian Vettel continued his transition from Formula 1 World Champion to champion of the world last week as he appeared on the panel of the BBC’s Question Time show.

After assuming the role of party pooper at the recent Miami Grand Prix, where he turned up to the opening ceremony in a T-shirt claiming the circuit will be under water by 2060 (that’s one way to get the newest contender for F1’s worst track off the calendar…), Vettel took his climate concerns to a more suitable setting.

Whether or not you are similarly passionate about the causes he advances, it is undeniable that Vettel was everything – charming and honest, articulate and amusing – his usual audience have come to expect from him over the years.

It has become increasingly obvious in recent times that Vettel is effectively wrestling with himself – caught between the little boy he once was, whose dream of a successful F1 career was all consuming, and the worldly-wise, 34-year-old father of three he is today.

That conflict provided the highlight of Vettel’s television appearance when he was asked directly if there was a hypocrisy to his climate campaigning given his status as a globe-trotting and “gas-guzzling” – to quote the phrase used by host Fiona Bruce – F1 driver.

“There are questions I ask myself every day,” Vettel said as he acknowledged the studio audience were fully entitled to snigger.

“It’s something that I’m asking myself. Certain things are in my control and certain things are not. It’s my passion to drive a car, I love it.

“When I get out of the car, of course I am thinking as well: ‘Is this something we should do, travel the world, wasting resources?’”

At a time when his F1 future is more uncertain than ever before, this was the closest