Sebastian Vettel takes care of the memory of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger in Imola – he also talks about the dark hours of his career
Sebastian Vettel is back in the Formula 1 paddock: In Imola, the four-time world champion is organizing a series of memorial events for Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger
“In this respect, it is an anniversary to pay tribute to this very dark and tragic weekend,” says Vettel and explains his motivation for the campaign: “I think the main idea is that something like this is not forgotten.”
To this end, Vettel has not only organized a special run by the drivers to the Tamburello corner on Thursday, he will also take to the track in Senna’s 1993 McLaren for a demo drive before the Grand Prix.
Reflecting on the tragic events of 30 years ago, the German explains: “All drivers to this day benefit from that weekend, strange as it may sound. But it was an important step in shifting the standards of safety. “
Vettel recalls phone call with his wife
However, Vettel also had to experience similarly bad moments in his own career as Formula 1 in Imola in 1994: “There hadn’t been a fatal accident for around ten years before that and I was in a similar situation in 2014,” he recalls.
“Of course you are aware of the danger in motorsport, but death wasn’t really present. And then there was the accident involving Jules Bianchi (at Suzuka), who paid the price with his life. That raises a lot of questions,” admits Vettel, who later also had to experience the loss of another fellow driver.
“Especially in 2019, when Anthoine (Hubert) lost his life on Saturday in Spa, I still remember the phone calls with my wife and thinking about why I should get back in the car at all,” admits Vettel, who was also thinking about ending his career at the time.
“But in the end, it’s what I love – and I decided to keep racing,” explains the German, who competed in the premier class for Aston Martin until the end of 2022.
However, the Formula 1 retiree is under no illusions that his former driver colleagues are still in danger today: “The speeds are still high, so the danger is still there,” says Vettel and warns with regard to the quest for even more safety: “It’s never fast enough. “
