Humming instead of humming: Sebastian Vettel’s unusual return to Formula 1

Practically with the end of Sebastian Vettel’s career last year, speculation about a return to Formula 1 for the four-time world champion began. At the weekend’s Grand Prix in Suzuka (Sunday, 6:25 a.m., live on ORF 1), the time has come, but perhaps not in the role that most people had expected: The German is working as a bee ambassador for more biodiversity a.

The 36-year-old, who was already an exceptional figure during his active career as a mouthpiece for environmental issues in the full-throttle circus, has set up 13 insect hotels in curve two of the Japanese route. And more or less by hand. With his team of six, he manufactured the parts entirely by hand, without the use of chainsaws. “It was a tough job,” says the Heppenheim native. “Sometimes we were in our workshop until three in the morning, eating almost nothing and only eating from the supermarket.”

The number of insect hotels, which are modeled on Japanese shrines, is not chosen at random: one for each of the ten Formula 1 teams, one for Vettel himself and the last two for two neighboring schools where Vettel gave a lecture on the importance of biodiversity. To make them visible, the curbs of the curve in question were painted black and yellow, a nod to the bee. “Let’s make the corners hum,” says Vettel, suggesting that the action in Suzuka might not have been the last.

The idea for this came about a year ago. “When you think about climate change, you automatically come across topics like biodiversity. This is at least as important as preserving the climate.” In discussions with Formula 1 boss Stefano Domenicali, he convinced him of the relevance of the topic and that the “premier class” would be well served by such projects.

The Formula 1 driver field didn’t take long to ask: all the pilots posed in front of the insect hotels on Thursday and thus showed their support for the “Racing for Biodiversity” initiated by Vettel.