"I don't see a reason why we can't have a woman on the grid"- Sebastian Vettel hits back at F1 chief over comments on female drivers

Sebastian Vettel did not agree with Stefano Domenicali's statements where he said that it's unlikely for women to feature on an F1 grid in the next five years. In the press conference on Thursday, Sebastian Vettel was questioned what was his reaction to the F1 CEO's statements to which the German said:

"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. So, I do the opposite. I encourage every girl at the breakfast lunch or dinner table to speak up and prove Stefano, in this regard, wrong and all these people wrong. Let's say that, you know, certain things can't be done by you, because you are a girl or a woman, I think this this sort of stereotype thinking is slowly disappearing, but has to disappear completely."

Sebastian Vettel also felt that it was more of an unlucky choice of words from Domenicali more than anything as he said:

"Well, I know Stefano and I think it was, I haven't read exactly, but it was a very unlucky choice of words. Because it's statements like that, that I guess women are, probably all girls, are probably confronted with when they grow up and sharing their dreams, I don't know sitting at breakfast, saying that I want to become a racing driver."

Sebastian Vettel further expanded on it by saying:

"And then, you know, the father might have just read exactly that statement and makes it clear to her that, ‘but you do like other things, why not focus on other things’, and then maybe they do focus on other things and drop racing or the idea of it. It's important that we don't say these things, because you know, there's sparks everywhere."

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Sebastian Vettel's expectations for the rest of the season

Sebastian Vettel was questioned about what his expectations were for the rest of the season, to which the German gave a pragmatic answer. He said that he would be trying to get the best possible out of the package he has.

He said:

"Yeah, I mean, I would love to fight for the win but I think being realistic, with the package that we have, we are far away from that. But yeah, I'm very motivated and very much looking forward, like I said earlier. I feel free to enjoy these races. I'm looking forward to work with the team trying to extract everything we can, obviously develop the car as much as we can till the end of the year."

Sebastian Vettel admitted that even though most of the development that will be happening in this part of the season will be for next year, he will still try to score the best possible result with the Aston Martin in the second half of the season. He said:

"I won't benefit from most of the development next year or of any development for next year but still I see that I can do you know the job the way that I've always done it and I want to finish it that way and I also see that we can have great results. I don't know it might be a fifth place. It might be a very, very lucky podium."

Sebastian Vettel will retire from the sport by the end of the 2022 F1 season.