Sebastian Vettel: This crash made the four-time F1 champion have second thoughts

It has been almost seven years since the horrific Formula 2 crash that claimed Anthoine Hubert’s life. On 31 August 2019, the Frenchman lined up for his final Formula 1 race at the infamous Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. He fell victim to a series of unfortunate circumstances. The promising young driver from Lyon was just 22 years old.

His death shook the entire motorsport community; even the Formula 1 drivers present were deeply moved, as demonstrated by the minute’s silence held before that year’s Belgian Grand Prix. For one driver, the terrible accident even sparked doubts about his own ability behind the wheel: Sebastian Vettel recounts in his column for the *New York Times*: “In more than two decades, there has only been one occasion on which I seriously doubted whether I should get back in the car.”

“That was at the Belgian Grand Prix in August 2019, after a young French driver, Anthoine Hubert, had lost his life in a racing accident at the age of 22,” the four-time champion continues. “I’ve had accidents myself, but fortunately they were only minor ones. I’ve also seen others crash. But this young man had his whole life ahead of him, and it simply came to an end whilst we were all watching.”

I began to feel a sense of responsibility that I hadn’t known before.

Sebastian Vettel

Vettel didn’t want to race in the Formula 1 race the following day. He recalls: “I rang my wife Hanna and told her I didn’t want to race the day after the accident. I slept badly that night; nevertheless, I decided to race.” The 38-year-old, who was chasing points for Ferrari at the time, finished fourth. And he realised that the tragedy at Spa had changed something: “After that weekend, I saw my sport in a different light, though I only truly realised this after I retired.”

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“I’d never been afraid of speed, but now I could see it, not just feel it. I began to feel a sense of responsibility that I hadn’t known before. It dawned on me that speed, progress and innovation are only meaningful if they lead us in the right direction,” explains the Heppenheim native, who hung up his racing helmet after the 2022 season.