By the end of his career, Sebastian Vettel was standing up for several social issues. From LGBTQ+ rights to environmental conservatism. The German race driver even quoted the hypocrisy behind his career and principles as the reason behind his retirement.
A few minutes after his last race, he even came live through his Instagram account, which he made to announce his retirement a couple of months ago, and talked about his plans to save the planet from irreversible climate change.
But in hindsight, these acts by Vettel made him a headache for Lawrence Stroll. The Canadian billionaire saw all these acts as a threat to his financial boom in the F1 team.
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When Fernando Alonso’s agent became an ear to Lawrence Stroll
Before the start of the 2022 season, Aston Martin signed a long-term commercial deal with Saudi petroleum giant Aramco. According to Business F1, the deal’s value lies around $440 million.
However, according to the same source, Vettel’s activism could have become a big thorn in this tie-up. Aramco is embedded with the Saudi Arabian government, so his views on LGBTQ+ couldn’t align with theirs.
Moreover, Aramco’s petroleum business is a big contributor to carbon emissions. Thus, his assertive words on environmental preservation contrasted with what Aston Martin was advertising. Thus, it was infesting the relations between Aramco and Stroll.
The source says that Stroll complained all these things about to Alonso’s manager Flavio Briatore. Eventually, from here, Alonso’s journey to the Silverstone-based team started.
Sebastian Vettel was out of favours
The German race driver was good enough for a few more years in F1. Even Mike Krack wanted him for the following seasons. Why not? He was clearly performing better than the team owner’s son Lance Stroll.
But Stroll senior wasn’t keen on having the four-time world champion in his team either. He reportedly was happy to have Alonso in his team, even though the Spaniard is already in his 40s.
But he is as good a driver as Vettel is and at least will never be making political statements that could upset sponsors with unending cash. That was enough for Stroll to continue his current upward trajectory plan in F1.
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