F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel to appear on Question Time next week

Sebastian Vettel is set to join the Question Time panel next week in London, making him the first active Formula One driver to appear on the BBC political debate show.

The four-time F1 world champion will join host Fiona Bruce in Hackney, London on Thursday, May 12 where members of a live audience can put questions on topical matters to the panellists which include MPs and political figures, along with a variety of notable public figures.

"I think there’s a lot that I can learn," Vettel told Autosport. “It’s an interesting opportunity, because it’s just different. I’m looking forward to it."

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Vettel is known in the F1 paddock for raising awareness about different social issues from human rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and climate change.

Ahead of the Miami Grand Prix race weekend taking place at the moment, the Aston Martin driver sported a t-shirt to warn about the predicted dangers of rising sea levels in that part of the world as a result of climate change.

The t-shirt read: "Miami 2060" and "1st Grand Prix underwater," along with an image of a driver wearing a helmet and using a snorkel underwater.

Earlier this year, Vettel was one of the first drivers who spoke out against racing in Russia after the country's invasion of Ukraine and vowed he wouldn't race there if the Russian Grand Prix went ahead and F1 did end up permanently cancelling the race weekend due to the invasion.

"For myself, my own opinion is I should not go, I will not go [to Russia]. I think it's wrong to race in the country," he told reporters.

"I'm sorry for the people, innocent people that are losing their lives, that are getting killed for stupid reasons and a very, very strange and mad leadership."

At the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2021, Vettel was reprimanded after he wore a rainbow "Same Love" t-shirt in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community during the national anthem and called the country's controversial referendum on anti-LGBTQ+ laws "embarrassing."

Last year, Vettel even called out his own sport for not going far enough to make greener engines, calling the current regulations "useless".

Vettel will appear on BBC One's Question Time on Thursday, May 12.

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