Faith & Beliefs

Senna famously described entering a trance-like state during his 1988 Monaco qualifying lap, when he set a time so far beyond anyone else that he scared himself and eased off. He wrote about the experience in detail: 'I was already on pole... and I just kept going. Suddenly I was nearly two seconds faster than anybody else, including my team-mate with the same car. And I suddenly realised I was no longer driving the car consciously. I was in a different dimension.' He pulled into the pits immediately after.

Senna kept a Bible at his home and in the paddock, and was photographed reading it regularly. His faith was not a public performance — colleagues and friends describe it as central to his daily life. He crossed himself on the grid and at the finish line, and would withdraw to pray before important races. He described his faith as the foundation of his confidence and his acceptance of the risks of racing.

Irvine rarely softened his opinions for the press, offering direct assessments of teammates, rivals, and team decisions that many other drivers of his era would have kept private. It made him a reliably quotable interview subject throughout his career, even when the comments occasionally created friction within his own teams.

Fittipaldi has described the decision to leave McLaren for his family team in terms of obligation rather than opportunity: Brazil had given him the context and support to become a world champion, and the attempt to build a Brazilian team was a form of repayment. The failure of the project commercially did not change his assessment of whether it was right. He has said consistently that the values behind the decision were correct even when the results were not.

After his 1966 Belgian Grand Prix accident, in which he was trapped in a fuel-soaked car for twenty-five minutes, Stewart began campaigning systematically for circuit safety improvements. The sport's establishment initially viewed the campaigns as commercially damaging. Stewart persisted, helped establish the Grand Prix Drivers' Association as a safety lobbying body, and is credited with reforms that have saved dozens — arguably hundreds — of lives.

Stewart was diagnosed with dyslexia as an adult, having struggled academically throughout his school years without understanding why. He has spoken at length about the experience — the assumption that struggle with reading and writing reflected a lack of intelligence, the compensating mechanisms he developed, the relief of a late diagnosis. He has used his profile to advocate for early screening and support for children with dyslexia.

Traditional Le Mans starts required drivers to sprint across the track to their cars and set off immediately, often without properly fastening their seatbelts in the rush, a practice several drivers considered dangerous. In 1969, Ickx deliberately walked to his car rather than running, a quiet but pointed protest against the format. He fastened his belts properly, started last, and went on to win the race regardless, in one of the closest finishes in Le Mans history. The traditional running start was phased out not long afterward.

Since retiring, Villeneuve has worked extensively in French and international media as a commentator and analyst, and has never adopted the diplomatic hedging typical of the role. He has been openly critical of specific drivers, teams, and governance decisions, on the record and by name, in a paddock culture that generally rewards saying less rather than more.

Rather than withdrawing from the sport after his son's death, Surtees became closely involved with motorsport safety organisations and campaigning, pushing for research into better cockpit and head protection for open-wheel racing. His advocacy is widely credited as part of the long chain of pressure that eventually led to the FIA introducing the halo device years later.

Beyond veganism, Hamilton is a patron of environmental causes and animal rights organisations. He's spoken at climate summits and used his victory celebrations to draw attention to environmental issues. He's also publicly called out Formula 1 for its carbon footprint — an unusual move for an active driver in the sport.

Despite being regarded by many contemporaries as one of the most naturally talented drivers on the grid, Peterson had a reputation as an unusually modest, easy-going personality off track, well liked throughout the paddock — a combination that made his death at just 34 years old particularly keenly felt across the sport.

In his final years in F1, Vettel used every platform available to him to highlight environmental issues. He picked up litter at Grands Prix, cycled to circuits, wore pro-environment helmets and clothing, and met with activists including Greta Thunberg. He publicly acknowledged the contradiction of being a racing driver while caring about carbon emissions, and cited it as one of his reasons for retiring at the end of 2022.