Greenpeace protests F1 sponsor Shell at Spa

Environmental activists Greenpeace on Sunday staged an audacious protest against race sponsors Shell at the Belgian grand prix.

Shell is the Spa-Francorchamps race’s high-profile title sponsor, as well as backing the famous Italian team Ferrari.

First, paragliders took to the skies with banners protesting the oil multinational’s Arctic oil drilling plans.

Abseiling activists then mounted the roof of the main grandstand and unfurled a huge banner that read ’ARCTIC OIL? SHELL NO!’

After the race, as Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton took their trophies, another abseiling protester tried to get onto the podium, amid the boos of the crowd and the resistance of the Shell-branded grid girls.

Although unsuccessful in their final bid, the activists did manage to place another Shell-branded banner prominently in front of the podium, reading ’Save the Arctic’.