Sebastian Vettel flew to Japan last Sunday to present his environmental project in Suzuka, and today’s presentation turned out to be really clear, and in the literal sense of the word. Almost all drivers and many employees from various Formula 1 teams took part, at the invitation of the four-time world champion, who retired last year. Even Stefano Domenicali was there.
Beehives appeared on the inside of the second bend of the Japanese highway: Sebastian and his assistants installed them there, and the curb on this bend was painted black and yellow, which everyone usually associates with bees. The program is called Racing for Biodiversity, which can be interpreted as “We participate in races for the sake of biodiversity.”
There are only 11 beehives – one for each team, and one more, as Vettel explained, was installed as an example. All materials for the beehives were purchased from local shops and the construction of the bee houses was carried out by Sebastian himself and his team. As he emphasized separately: “We didn’t use chainsaws.”
In May, during the Monaco race weekend, Vettel told Domenicali about his idea, and the Formula 1 president supported the project. Today, during the presentation, the racers not only signed the beehives, but also participated in settling the bees in their, as Sebastian says, ‘hotels’.
By the way, for this occasion the 2nd corner of the track with its yellow-black curb was renamed Buzzin’ Corner, i.e. “buzzing turn”
“I am very happy to present a new project,” said Vettel. – Suzuka is my favorite track, and this weekend there was a special event during the second turn. The curb is painted yellow and black, while the rest of the curb remains red and white.
The project is intended to make people aware of the importance of biodiversity. That’s why the curb has the same colors as the bees. But our project focuses not only on bees, but also on other insects. In general, we can say that the bee is our ambassador.
We had a lot to do in the past few days, we built bee hotels whose roofs were also painted yellow and black. I hope that this is just the beginning, and that in the future there will be more similar projects in the world, and that there will be more black and yellow curbs on race tracks. In fact, our program is dedicated not only to insects, but also to all kinds of animals and plants, and not only to them, but in general to the entire natural world, which needs our protection.
It’s great that so many drivers and people from the paddock supported our idea. Maybe this project will have a very small impact, but we will see in a month or a year.”
Source: F1 News

I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.