Being away from F1 and motorsports gives a driver a lot of time, and Sebastian Vettel decided to put it to good use. The environmentally conscious four-time World Champion, who has been preaching diversity and sustenance for years, recently completed a training program in Swiss agriculture.
“I’m doing a small apprenticeship in agriculture,” Vettel said during an award function in Germany earlier this week. Officially, he won’t be a farmer, he revealed.
However, he would be able to run his own farm, which would be great, since he already lives in a farmhouse in the country. Vettel, who resides in Switzerland, completed his training at the Pfäffikon Vocational Training Center, as reported by Blue News.
The news of Vettel taking up farming does not come as a surprise, considering how vocal he has been about his love for nature. In the latter stages of his F1 career, he was very outspoken about the environment and the need to conserve it.
The ex-Red Bull driver would also lead by example, as he often arrived at the tracks on bicycles just to reduce his carbon footprint. In terms of farming, Vettel has experience in apiculture, which is the practice of cultivating bees.
Vettel’s bee-keeping venture in F1
Vettel retired from F1 at the end of the 2022 season but remained connected to the paddock to promote his sustainability initiatives. In 2023, he returned to his favorite circuit on the calendar—Suzuka—to unveil several bee houses he had built at Turn Two, which he fondly referred to as his “bee hotels.”
My bad the pictures didn’t show everything. https://t.co/4H1m4Lw9Xl
— Stefanie (@fastpitstop) October 29, 2023
“With Buzzin’ Corner, we are racing for biodiversity. Through this project, I want to raise awareness about the importance of biodiversity,” Vettel told ESPN.
Reports initially claimed that the bee hotels were destroyed after the 2023 Japanese GP, but these were soon proven false. Thankfully, the reports were false as Vettel would have been furious if it had happened.
