Mercedes Formula 1 team principal Toto Wolff compared the difficulty of discussing the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to divisive subjects like Brexit or the outcome of the presidential election. of the United States.
The Abu Dhabi GP will remain historically as one of the most divisive episodes in the sporting history of the premier discipline, devoting Red Bull driver Max Verstappen to a major controversy against Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, at the end of the event. never seen before and regulatory interpretations on the part of sports management with serious consequences.
An episode that Toto Wolff has clearly not yet digested, several years later, and still not accepting that it has also, with the advent of the Netflix series Drive to Survive, had a big impact on representation what F1 fans can learn about the sporting, technical and regulatory dramaturgy of Formula 1.
Since this 2021 season, where tension has reached its peak between supporters of one side or the other, the engagement of F1 fans has sometimes been able to come closer to that of football supporters, with what can be seen as a race to the bottom in the quality of exchanges between supporters and the nature of interactions, particularly on social networks. Wolff goes so far as to say that the Abu Dhabi GP, like the election of Donald Trump or the trauma left by Brexit, is now a subject that cannot be discussed at the Christmas table in family or friends, the subject is so sensitive…
“This is part of the great success we have [en F1] Today”he declared in the podcast Armchair Experts with Dax Shepard. “It was really dramatic. I remember that the topics that no one wanted to discuss on Christmas tables were [Donald] Trump, Brexit and Abu Dhabi 2021.”
A reflection which above all highlights the way in which Formula 1 is now consumed, more as entertainment than as a pure sporting discipline.
