Sebastian Vettel, a German Formula One driver, arrived at the Montreal Grand Prix wearing a T-shirt slandering Canadian oil sands..The Aston Martin driver arrived to the event grounds on a bicycle and wearing a shirt reading "Stop mining tar sands. Canada's climate crime.".Vettel was asked about the shirt during a news conference Friday..He told reporters what's happening in Alberta is criminal and he plans to continue spreading the message with his helmet this weekend, according to The Canadian Press..Alberta's Minister of Energy Sonya Savage suggested Vettel try out racing a pedal-car to lower his own emissions.."I have seen a lot of hypocrisy over the years, but this one takes the cake. A race car driver sponsored by Aston Martin, with financing from Saudi Aramco, complaining about the oilsands," said Savage.."Saudi Aramco has the largest daily oil production of all companies in the world. It is reputed to be the single largest contributor to global carbon emissions, of any company, since 1965."."Rather than demonizing the oilsands, which is on a path to net-zero, people could look to lowering their own personal carbon footprint. Perhaps a pedal-car for Formula 1?" said Savage..The Canadian Energy Centre also sent out a series of tweets blasting Vettel.."Formula One racing, a sport that relies on fossil fuels for pure entertainment, has admitted to its carbon footprint and indicated steps to reach net zero, bravo. That doesn’t change that fact that its current carbon emissions amount to 256,000 tonnes CO2 per season," the CEC tweeted.."Canada’s largest oil sands producers are addressing climate change by working together on an ambitious, actionable plan to reduce GHG emissions from oil sands production with the ultimate goal of net zero emissions."."Speaking against Alberta, home to some of the world’s most responsible producers, Vettel fails to acknowledge his acceptance of sponsorship…aka $$$... from Saudi Aramco, a company owned by Saudi Arabia–which has an abhorrent & criminal human rights record."."This is another instance of a celebrity with a net worth of $100M (who drives a sports car for a living) telling the 99% how foolish it is to rely on responsible sources of energy.".In conversation online many are making similar sentiments to Savage's.."Let alone the hypocrisy Vettel is very out of touch with the process of extracting oil in Alberta considering there are extremely few mines in Alberta that are currently extracting oil," said Chad Burwash on Twitter.."I applaud him for the way he rides that bike around the globe, making millions of dollars driving his solar powered F1 car, before going home to live in his modest $7 million dollar Swiss farmhouse mansion," said Bob Chadford.."A true climate warrior with a minuscule carbon footprint. Bravo!"
