Ahead of this weekend’s MSC Cruises Sao Paulo Grand Prix, four-time Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel was in Brazil to promote his latest conservation initiative.
Since his retirement in 2022, the former Red Bull and Ferrari driver has been promoting sustainability and raising awareness of climate change.
His latest venture, ‘F①rest – Drawn Together’, is a global programme the German is hoping will reconnect humans with the planet.
Vettel is calling on people from across the world to draw a tree and add it to a global collage to create a vast artwork. “When you draw a tree, you start to notice how deeply we rely on nature and how much it relies on us,” he said.
“Together, we can grow awareness, one tree at a time. Many trees make a forest in Brazil, and everywhere else in the world.”
Vettel said his inspiration for the ‘F①rest’ scheme stemmed from a trip to the Amazon rainforest, where spending time with indigenous communities left him with a passion to do something to change the approach to deforestation.
“I wanted to come back not just to talk about what’s being lost, but to do something that brings people together for something hopeful,” he added.
In the build-up to the race at Interlagos, Vettel had been in local Sao Paulo schools and community centres to encourage people to draw a tree and join the campaign, which also distributed seeds at the events.
The ever-growing collage will also be displayed in the Fanzone at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, with drivers and teams set to add their own tree drawings to the collection.
