Sebastian Vettel Explains Why he Shoved the Mascot Away from the Selfie

Sebastian Vettel was a bit peeved with the podium ceremony at the Mexican Grand Prix 2019. While the issue was not the entire ceremony, he had issues with certain aspects. Firstly, he did not like the sponsored trophies presented on the podium.

Mexico has a unique podium ceremony as it incorporates a DJ booth. For this weekend, a number of new features were included, namely a ramp which was used to raise race winner Lewis Hamilton’s car in front of the crowd.

While Vettel praised that addition, he was not too thrilled with an appearance of a racing suit-clad figure ‘Mario Achi’ brandishing a camera on a selfie stick. Vettel was also dismayed to find the trophies were branded by event sponsor Heineken.

“I didn’t like the selfie guy when he tried to push into the picture, so I pushed him away,” said Vettel. “I’m not big into selfies anyways.

“But I think it was nice to elevate the car as well. I think it’s really cool. Obviously, it’s a very nice way to do it, to involve the whole stadium and the crowd and the other things so I liked most of it, except the selfie guy and the trophies.”

“I think it’s a shame, you have such a great race and they’ve put so much effort into the race and then you get this shitty trophies that look boring. So I think we could have some for the future, maybe something nice, maybe a traditional Mexican, because I think it’s a bit of a shame.”

So, when Mario Achi tried to butt into the official drivers photograph, Sebastian Vettel lightly shoved him away from himself, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas. Obviously, he felt that the unknown person was invading their personal space bubble. In fact, some have even praised Vettel for not wanting to put up with it.