Sebastian Vettel expresses sympathy for Silverstone climate protestors

The four-times Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel said he sympathises with the environmental protesters who invaded the track at the British Grand Prix on Sunday. Vettel, who has been an outspoken climate campaigner for some time, conceded that the activists’ protest could have put lives at risk.

Activists from the Just Stop Oil group had breached the fencing and sat down on the track on the opening lap at Silverstone shortly after Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu had suffered a huge, 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 circulating back to the pits. They were removed by the authorities shortly afterwards.

Their methods for the protest were widely condemned as dangerous but Lewis Hamilton expressed his support for their cause and Vettel too felt they were acting because of genuine fear of the scale of the climate emergency.

“Everybody is free to have their own view on it,” Vettel said. “These people don’t act out of frustration but they are desperate and I very much sympathise with their fears and their anxieties which I think everybody who understands the size of the problem that’s drifting towards us can understand.

“On the other hand, I see the other side. There’s marshals trying to stop people from doing these kind of things. You’re risking people that are involved in the race weekend, drivers, marshals. So there’s two sides. I think the message was very clear and like I said, I completely sympathise with their fears and anxieties.”

James Skeet, a spokesperson for the group, said he believed the action had been a success in drawing attention to their cause. “We are out of time unfortunately,” he