Meteorites were invoked in a shocking remark by F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali who said female drivers entering F1 were as unlikely to happen as a meteorite coming to Earth. But the story took an unexpected turn after former F1 champion Sebastian Vettel responded.
Asteroids and meteorites keep flying across the Earth on a regular basis but it is a very rare sight when one of them strikes our planet. Despite some potentially dangerous asteroids flying by at a terrifyingly short distance, our planet has remained lucky. And referring to this phenomenon, the Formula One Group CEO Stefano Domenicali recently made some shocking remarks towards female drivers. During a press meet with international journalists ahead of the Belgian GP, he was asked whether he thought a female driver could be racing and going head-to-head with a male driver in the F1. Responding, he said, “Realistically speaking, unless there is something like a meteorite coming to Earth, I don’t see a girl coming into F1 in the next five years”. The comment has caused outrage among the fans of the game and netizens have been expressing their opinion on Twitter and other social media platforms. And now, the quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel has responded to the remarks.
Female drivers in F1 as unlikely as meteorites coming to Earth, says CEO Domenicali
In the same interview, Domenicali also explained the reason behind his opinions. “That is very unlikely. We believe that to be able to give the chance for girls to be at the same level with the guys, they need to be at the same age when they start to fight on the track,” he added. The Formula One chief also mentioned that the company is working on several initiatives to fulfill that goal.
Sebastian Vettel commented on the remarks and highlighted it as insensitive language. “I know Stefano and I haven’t read it exactly but it was a very unlucky choice of words,” he said at Spa-Francorchamps, according to Grandprix.com.
“Because it’s statements like that that probably all girls and women are confronted with when they grow up and are sharing their dreams sitting at breakfast. Then, the father might have just read that statement and makes it clear to her ‘you like other things – why not focus on other things? So it’s important that we don’t say these things because I don’t see a reason why we can’t have a woman on the grid. I think the challenges we are facing, they can be faced by women,” he added.
The Aston Martin driver continued to explain the role of individuals within the organization in breaking this stereotype. He said, “So I do the opposite. I encourage every girl at the breakfast table to speak up and prove Stefano and all these people wrong. I think this sort of stereotype thinking is slowly disappearing but has to disappear completely”.