F1 star Sebastian Vettel arrives at Grand Prix party in ‘Miami 2060: First Grand Prix underwater’ t-shirt

The city of Miami is on pace to see unprecedented sea level rise by mid-century due to the climate crisis

The latest celebrity climate statement comes as a sartorial choice from one of auto racing’s stars.

On Thursday, German Formula One star Sebastian Vettel was spotted wearing a t-shirt that said, “Miami 2060 – 1^st Grand Prix Underwater – Act Now or Swim Later.”

The Miami Grand Prix is taking place this weekend as part of the 2022 Formula One Grand Championship, the first time the race will be held.

The city of Miami is under threat from sea level rise as the climate crisis melts ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica. According to Nasa, sea levels will rise in southern Florida between 0.3 metres (1 foot) and 0.69 metres (2.3 feet) by 2060, the date on Mr Vettel’s shirt.

Hard Rock Stadium, where the race is taking place, would need about 1.6 m (5 ft) of sea level rise to have part the complex permanently inundated, according to a map via Climate Central. Under a high sea-level rise scenario, southern Florida could reach that level by the 2080s, according to Nasa.

Under less dire scenarios, that level would take longer to reach. But even without total inundation, the stadium will be more at risk from flooding as the ocean creeps upward.

Higher water levels means that storm surges don’t need to push as high above normal to reach further inland — and most of the stadium complex sits just a few metres above the water.

Mr Vettel is a star driver for the Aston Martin F1 team. And the driver is no stranger to environmental causes — last year, he cautioned that Formula 1 needed to become more sustainable to survive into the future.

In 2019, the racing league said that it planned to have “net-zero” carbon emissions by 2030, and has said that it is developing a “100 per cent sustainable” fuel that emits at least 65 per cent fewer greenhouse gases as regular petrol.