Sebastian Vettel believes something has to change in the financing of lower level motorsport for it to be more “affordable” and accessible for everyone instead of it turning into an “elite sport”.
The four-time World Champion announced his retirement from the sport during the summer break after a glittering 15-year career which saw him on the top step of the podium 53 times – the third highest in Formula 1 history.
With Vettel gone and Mick Schumacher’s future in the sport facing some uncertainty at the moment, there is a chance that there won’t be a German driver on the grid for the first time since 1981.
The German Grand Prix has also been absent from the calendar since 2019, and Vettel was questioned about what is happening to cause such a decline.
“You know, there’s no guarantee that you have German drivers or a driver of a specific nationality on the grid.
“I think it goes in cycles and we had, at some point, nearly half the grid German drivers, like seven or eight or six, I don’t remember. And now, next year, it might be down to one.
“I remember that a lot of people from the French media were asking, there’s no French drivers, where are the French drivers? Now we have a couple of French drivers. And yeah, so I think naturally it goes in cycles.”
It is no surprise that motorsport is one of the most expensive sports to compete in and even an entry-level season in karting can set you back thousands of pounds.
With the world on the edge of a global recession following the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, Vettel believes something has to change to keep it affordable for everyone.
“Motorsport has gotten more and more expensive,” he said. “I think if I had to start, if I was seven again today, I’m not sure I would make it just because you need to have the financial backing at a very, very early age. It has turned into an elite sport.
“Hopefully we’re taking the right actions, especially through go-karts to make it more affordable. There has been too much money around and too much money being thrown at the manufacturers and different dealers and teams. So it’s hard to blame them, they need to make their living and survive as well.”
In late 2019, Formula 1 announced a cost cap for constructors with the aims of a more competitive championship, level playing field and to ensure the long-term financial sustainability of all ten teams. The cost cap was put into use for the 2021 season and team’s have had to cope with the limited use of finance.
To Vettel, the cost cap is a step in the right direction but the problem as a whole in motorsports is “not an easy one to fix”.
“Motorsport has become… I don’t know how to change that but too professional. And with professionalism there’s also the financial aspect. I mean, look at Formula 1.
“Now we have the budget cap to try and counter that but there was no limit before we entered that era, where we are in today, and teams were spending more money than they had and that’s for all the teams.”
its hard to know whether this guys is just hopelessly naive or just so removed from reality as to no longer be taken seriously. things cost what they cost and the pure hard costs of racing are high because every single element is unique, low volume and either a single use expendable or a short life span element. and then you drag it all over the world . where is the mystery ? i used to think nico was the gold standard for annoying after he retired but we have a new category leader in seb…
Rosberg at least has a brain — just misguided at times but if being anti-vax is any indication, he is finally seeing through this BS world. Vettel seems to be genuinely stupid. Like most modern leftists, the older he gets, the less intelligent he becomes.
I bet Lance Stroll has no idea what Vettel is talking about.
There’s nothing better than a millionaire made wealthy through motorsports scolding motorsports for throwing around too much money.
Vettel is a typical celebrity socialist fraud. A guy worth over $100 million dollars and is constantly complaining about how others have too much money, how they spend their money, and their impact on the planet when he not only flies around the world in a private jet to drive race cars for a (really bad) luxury car company, but is a shill for the “green movement” (which includes some of the most toxic and expensive industries in the world), and whose main sponsor is a company that brings Indians into the US to replace US workers in order to pay less to and work employees harder. If Vettel meant anything of the nonsense he spouts he would give away most of his fortune and retire in a log cabin somewhere and live off the land.