Just because you are on US$40 million a year, it doesn’t mean you like being ripped off. Just ask Scuderia Ferrari German driver Sebastian Vettel, who showed his thrifty, pragmatic side while hunting for somewhere to stay on a Grand Prix weekend. Auto Motor und Sport followed the four-time world champion as part of a story on how various people in F1 tackled the sport’s first ever triple-header, with this year’s calendar placing the French, Austrian and British GPs in as many weeks.
The first leg, at the Paul Ricard circuit in the south of France, was widely regarded as an absolute nightmare for anyone travelling to the venue by car.
Some fans were left stuck in traffic jams for over four hours on just the Friday alone, both heading to and trying to depart the circuit. Seb had initially planned to bypass all that hassle by chartering a jet to the airport at the circuit, then staying at the Hotel du Castellet trackside. Until it came to the cost: “The hotel had raised the room prices for the GP week to 2,500 euros per night,” AMuS reported – “That was too much for a Formula 1 World Champion — on principle.”
His next idea was to park his motorhome in the paddock, but it turned out the promoter also wanted more than a pretty penny: “Anyone who wanted to set up quarters on the grounds of the track would have had to pay 15,000 euros,” AMuS wrote.
In the end, Vettel did what any sensible traveller — US$40m salary or not — would do. He parked his motorhome in a good spot 8km from the track, then rode his classic Suzuki motorcycle to-and-fro each day.
Well played, Sebastian.
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