Valtteri Bottas wants retiring Sebastian Vettel to continue in GPDA role

Valtteri Bottas hopes Sebastian Vettel continues on in his role as one of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association’s directors, despite the German retiring at the end of this season.

The four-time World Champion announced his decision to leave the sport last month and one of the many questions brought as a result was would he retain his place on the GDPA board.

Vettel has been a director since 2010 and is currently in the role alongside George Russell, Anastasia Fowle and chairman Alex Wurz.

The Aston Martin driver is also known as being one of the most outspoken when it comes to standing up for causes he believes in and has not been afraid to speak publicly about issues such as equal rights and the environment.

A recent example of this came during the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix when Vettel walked out of a drivers briefing as he was unhappy with a lengthy discussion on track limits when he believed there were greater issues facing the drivers that needed discussing. He was handed a €25,000 fine as a result.

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He was also outspoken following the missile strike during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend, a race he did not take part in as a result of having COVID, saying it can be hard to objective when you are “a paid guest.”

It seems Vettel’s no-nonsense approach has proven popular with the drivers having served as a director for 12 seasons. So much so that drivers are backing him to continue in the role