Turn 2 at Suzuka for this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix has been renamed “Buzzin’ Corner” as part of four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel’s efforts to raise awareness of biodiversity issues.
Vettel was on hand to oversee the build of 10 insect enclosures on the inside of Turn 2, where Formula 1 has also approved the curbs being painted black and yellow to highlight the cause. Vettel was joined by all of the drivers on Thursday afternoon as well as multiple team principals to promote the effort.
“The project is called ‘Buzzin’ Corner, racing for biodiversity,’” Vettel said. “The idea is to make a buzz, make noise and create awareness around the topic, and especially the loss and decline of biodiversity.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1388]
“Biodiversity describes the variety of species, like how many animals, plants, living organisms, bacteria — all sorts, every sort of life there is, but also within a certain species how much variety there is and how much of an ecosystem, different ecosystems that we have, like woodlands, forests, deserts, the arctic, the rainforest, all types of ecosystems.
“Why yellow and black? The bee I think is a great ambassador with its colors, with the pattern, because everybody has immediately a picture in their head. We used her to spread the message.
“We painted the curb, but we also built these huts to create more habitat and space for wild insects, wild bees –not honeybees because they’re not at risk, but all sorts of wild insects; also bugs, butterflies, everything that crawls, and to have some space. Mostly for nesting, to hibernate, to find some food, which is obviously a small impact here at the track but change starts in your head, and that’s what we’re trying to aim for.”
While prior to his retirement Vettel stated that he’d love to make a one-off return at Suzuka, he says he’s enjoying the new phase of his life having stopped racing.
“I’ve enjoyed this project. It’s obviously a small project, but I’ve enjoyed time so far this year — lots of ideas, lots of things I read up on. F1 was the center to my life for so long, but once you step out, you realize even more how big the rest of the world is, and in a way how small Formula 1 is.
“Not to take any excitement from the sport — it’s an amazing feeling to drive those cars. Of course I do miss that, but I also feel at some point it’s probably time for all of us to move on.”
Lewis Hamilton welcomed Vettel’s return to the paddock and his approach to using his voice to try and make a positive impact on matters outside the sport.
“It’s great, firstly, to have Seb back this weekend,” Hamilton said. “He sat down and told all the drivers of his plans. It was great to see that he’s found his purpose. To be honest, in the history of the sport, I don’t know any other driver who’s ever been so outspoken and shown real compassion for the world outside of this little world that we’re living in and it’s really great that he’s utilizing his platform.
“I just hope that with the things that he’s doing that he inspires the other drivers to do something along, maybe, in their own lane. But we all need to come together in this world to have a positive impact, to spread love, to spread compassion, to raise awareness for a lot of the problems.
“And there’s obviously millions of problems that we need to address, but biodiversity for sure, is… when he’s working with the bees here, raising awareness this weekend I think is a great way. It just sparks a bit of interest and raise awareness for people to understand exactly what and how important they are in terms of our ecosystem.”