Nearly seven years after one of Motorsport’s most tragic weekends, Sebastian Vettel has opened up about how Anthoine Hubert’s fatal accident during the 2019 Belgian GP changed the way he views racing, speed, and his own career.
The incident took place on the second lap of the Formula 2 Feature Race. A high-speed multi-car collision at Raidillon ended with Hubert’s car being hit in the cockpit area by Juan Manuel Correa, who lost control of his car after running over debris. Hubert, the 22-year-old French driver who had just won races at Monaco and Paul Ricard earlier that season, passed away shortly after the crash.
The following day, after the whole paddock gathered on the circuit for tributes, the F1 weekend continued with the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Vettel starting on the front row. Leclerc held off Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton to claim his maiden F1 victory, while Valtteri Bottas completed the podium. Vettel was P4.
Vettel: “I did not want to race”
Recently, in a column in The New York Times, Vettel revealed that the 2019 Belgian GP was the only time in all of his 299 race starts that he seriously considered not competing. Reflecting on the dangers of Motorsport, the four-time World Champion explained that while he had experienced several crashes throughout his career, he had always continued racing.
“There were moments when I lost control of the car because something broke or I simply pushed too hard. I’ve had my fair share of crashes. Even though a crash occurs very quickly, when it happens, time seems to slow down,” he shared.
“You begin to realize the shattering reality and consequences of chasing high speeds. The brutal force of a crash reminds you of what you’re playing with. But I kept racing.”
However, Anthoine Hubert’s fatal accident at Spa-Francorchamps marked a turning point for Vettel, as he explained:
“In more than two decades of racing, there was a single time when I seriously questioned jumping into the car again. It was during the Belgian Grand Prix in August 2019, after a young French driver, Anthoine Hubert, lost his life in a racing accident at age 22.
“I have had accidents myself, but they were fortunately only minor ones. I have seen others crash, too. But that young man had his whole life ahead of him, and it just stopped with all of us watching.”
Vettel, who was aged 32 at the time, added: “I called my wife, Hanna, and told her I did not want to race the next day after the accident. I slept poorly that night; yet I decided to race.”
A changed perspective
Vettel went on to complete three more F1 seasons following the Spa tragedy before retiring at the end of the 2022 campaign.
Further looking back at the 2019 Belgian GP, the German admitted that he only fully understood its impact on him after his career had ended: “After that weekend, I felt differently about my sport, which I only grasped after I retired. I was never afraid of the speeds, but now I could see them, not just feel them.”
He concluded: “I began to experience a responsibility that I had not had before. I started to understand that speed, progress and innovation only matter if they move us in the right direction.”
