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.

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.

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.

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.