As Europe faces the strongest political situation it has since WWII, the F1 world was obligated to speak up on the matter at the first glimpses of the 2022 season and Sebastian Vettel, with his tendency and love for standing up for global issues, spoke on his opinion about the conflict happening at Ukraine since February 24^th.

“I think everyone has an attitude, the question is whether everyone always dares to share the attitude. I'm not shy about that, quite the opposite. I think there are certain topics where you can't remain silent.”

“It's a strange feeling to even get out of bed when you start the day with the news, to motivate yourself when you know exactly that there are things that are much more important. Innocent people are already having to die. You can't imagine the situation.

“I don't think there's a winning side to this kind of thing. [It is an] absolute shock, and I think the consequence is very clear.”

As quoted first by Autosport.com, the German thinks all his colleagues are on the same line of thought about the topic. Whether they decide to speak up is the difference, and the 34-year-old is sure the most important thing is for the political tensions to deescalate soon.

“Right now everyone is busy with themselves, but of course this is an issue that is bigger than anything else. I'm sure all the other drivers share the opinion. Anything else would surprise me,”

“But it's not important at first whether we speak out or not. The important thing is that maybe the situation will relax, that it will come to an end. I don't think anyone wants it to escalate further and get further out of control, but that seems very difficult at the moment.”

After the 4-time-World-Champion stated he would be boycotting the GP that would have taken place at Sochi on September 25^th, the official announcement made by the FIA approved that there would not be a Russian GP in 2022.

“Values and morals should come before everything else,” he said. “Business is not important at all in that respect.”

“If people go to war and die, I can't imagine that at all. I, like everyone else, sat there and learned a lot in history class and listened a lot. I found it all very interesting, what happened.”

“I still think it's extremely important to continue to have these things in your conscience and to continue to be made aware of them. You can't forget things like that. And you become all the more aware of such things now. As I said, there was hope that things would settle down. It's terrible that it's now getting out of control.”

“Whether someone drives fast or slow, whether the car is good or not, it's all secondary.”

“We all had a life growing up without confrontations, without wars. There was a phase at the end of the 1990s, but to be honest I was still a small child then and didn't notice or understand much.

“Now to witness and hear that people are being sent to the front and are putting their lives in danger, and some have already died, that is terrible.

“As a human being, you can only see it that way. I wouldn't understand if you couldn't share that in that sense. Even if, as an athlete, you are always told not to get involved, but to stay out of it. In that respect, there are simply weightier issues. And I have no problem sharing my position on them.”

The German was asked whether he would send a message for Europe about the topic: “I can't speak for Europe. But I think I'm as European as many others. In that respect [I am] very, very shocked.”

“I wish it would settle down after all, but some people seem to be possessed by madness. They have, I think, their own truth and their own reality. That then others have to suffer for it and be punished with their lives, that doesn't make sense.”