Aston Martin Formula 1 driver Sebastian Vettel believes the sport is now in a position to openly welcome a gay driver.
Vettel, who has become an activist for the environment and equal rights, featured on the cover of LGBTQ+ magazine Attitude, in which he discussed why F1 is ready for a gay driver.
“Perhaps it wouldn’t have been the case in the past, but now I think a gay Formula 1 driver would be welcomed, and rightly so,” he said.
“I feel that a gay driver would help to speed up the elimination of prejudice and help push our sport in a better direction. So I think and hope our sport would be ready for one.”
Vettel, along with fellow F1 champion Lewis Hamilton, have been the biggest supporters of the LGBTQ+ community amongst drivers within the sport, with both wearing t-shirts and helmets adorned with slogans and pride flags, whilst also sharing posts on social media.
Vettel made headline sports news last year at the Hungarian Grand Prix when he wore a rainbow shirt with the words ‘Same Love’ on the front.
Several teams this month are supporting Pride Month, with Mercedes changing its famous three-pointed star to a rainbow version, whilst Alpine confirmed they will be running rainbow flags on their engine cover.
Vettel believes attitudes in F1, which is a male dominated sport, are now changing amongst drivers, engineers and other employees, with the traditional image of a sportsman as some macho-hero now evolving.
“[There’s] this old image of a player or driver as a ‘hero’ who should match a certain set of criteria. But the judging criteria are just wrong. How are those stereotypes in any way related to performance? Who got to decide?
“It takes enormous courage to show your real self rather than hiding behind a façade based on what people expect.”
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