“My opinion is I should not go, I will not go”: Sebastian Vettel makes it clear that he won’t race at the Russian GP following the country’s invasion of Ukraine

Sebastian Vettel is adamant that having an F1 race in Russia under current circumstances is wrong and he won’t take part in it. 

On Thursday morning, the World woke up to the upsetting news of Russia launching offensive inside Ukrainian territory. The country is now subject to widespread criticism and most of the nations are imposing sanctions on them.

Formula 1 themselves are facing problems due to geo-political tensions between the countries. In particular, Haas who have Uralkali (a Russian company) as title sponsor, face the potential threat of facing financial problems due to sanctions.

Haas have pulled Guenther Steiner out of a planned F1 press conference this lunchtime. Expecting a further statement from Haas (on top of “monitoring the situation” with Russia) at some stage #F1 #F1Testing

— Chris Medland (@ChrisMedlandF1) February 24, 2022

Another subject of concern has been the Russian GP that is scheduled to take place this September. Some fans had been calling for it to be scrapped for quite a while now, but with the invasion now official, many believe that F1 are actually considering it.

Sebastian Vettel for one, made it clear that he won’t travel to Sochi this year. The four-time World Champion admitted that he felt uneasy upon hearing the news and was scared and sorry for the people of Ukraine.

Vettel is the director of the Grand Prix Drivers Association. He revealed that the group hasn’t discussed on the matter yet, but plan on doing so very soon.

Also read: Lewis Hamilton reveals he was told that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s double was present at the podium during the 2015 Russian GP

Sebastian Vettel does not want F1 to go ahead with the Russian GP

Formula 1 themselves said that they were ‘monitoring the situation’ as of Thursday morning. It’s very possible that public pressure and sanctions from the West will prevent the race in Sochi from going ahead.

Ahead of the second day of pre-season testing in Barcelona, Vettel spoke about the matter. “As GPDA we haven’t spoken on the subject. So I can’t speak on behalf of GPDA,” he said.

“But in my personal opinion, obviously I woke up to this morning’s news shocked. I don’t know, I think it’s horrible to see what is happening. Obviously if you look at the calendar, we have a race scheduled in Russia.”

Sebastian Vettel said, that he’s sad and shocked to hear the morning news. Says he made his decision not to drive at Russia this year even if there is no official decision about a cancellation yet.#AMuS

— Tobi Grüner 🏁 (@tgruener) February 24, 2022

“For myself, my own opinion is I should not go, I will not go. I think it’s wrong to race in that country. I’m sorry for the innocent people that are losing their lives, getting killed for stupid reasons. A very, very strange and mad leadership.”

“I’m sure there’s something we will talk about but as I said on behalf of the GPDA we haven’t come together yet. But personally I’m so shocked and sad to see what’s going on. We will see going forward but I think my decision is already made,” the Aston Martin driver concluded.

Also read: McLaren’s Lando Norris looks back on a strong first day of pre-season testing in Barcelona