The Circuit of The Americas, as the venue for Formula 1, is giving Sebastian Vettel a parting gift by planting 296 trees around the track
The 2022 USA Grand Prix in Austin will be Sebastian Vettel’s 296th Formula One race. The Circuit of The Americas (COTA) has taken this as an opportunity to give Vettel a special gift on his retirement: The circuit wants to plant a total of 296 trees “to celebrate Vettel’s work in Formula 1 and his commitment to the environment”, according to the statement.
The first 20 trees have already been planted on the track’s grounds south of Austin. Vettel himself took a “golden shovel” in hand at a small ceremony to dig a hole for the 20th tree and insert it. In future, the group of trees will be known as the “Vettel grove”, and a small bronze memorial is also planned.
And the remaining trees? They are to be planted in a nearby park and thus help to restore a flood plain. Vettel himself wants to donate another 296 trees from his own pocket.
The whole project was not his idea, Vettel assures ‘Sky’, but he thinks it is a “really, really great action”, he says. “It’s the track’s tenth anniversary this year, and to say goodbye, the track has come up with something really special. “
What happens on the race track is “at some point no longer so much in the foreground”, Vettel explains further. But his “Vettel grove” will hopefully “stand here for a long time and in good health”. In any case, it was a “nice sign to plant the trees”.
Vettel describes his performance in the Formula 1 Friday practice in Austin in the Aston Martin AMR22 as “quite okay”. He and his team got “the information we wanted”.
