Now, it has been a long time since that Sunday evening in Abu Dhabi where the world of Formula One was thrown into turmoil, and since then I’ve had a lot of time to reflect. To be honest, the prospect of Formula One doesn’t really excite me anymore. 

I’m not really sure what it was all about. After Saudi Arabia I knew the season finale would be controversial, it just had to be. 2021 had been controversial ever since Bahrain. But it was extremely overhyped. 

I know Formula One is trying its hardest to appeal to the younger audience. But in my opinion, they went too far this year. I didn’t like the whole “#HistoryAwaits” push that they employed on their social media. I felt like Liberty Media decided it was an all or nothing scenario for their brand. Verstappen winning the title would be ‘all’, and Hamilton winning would be ‘nothing’.

But the thing that annoyed me the most was the artificial drama they produced to cause a stir on social media. Never before had we had a title fight where the two protagonists were to be photographed having a stare off with the trophy in between them before the race.

The term that has been floating around is ‘ice cold’, with regards to the stare off. To my older audience, what this means is that someone who shows no fear, and no emotion is ‘ice cold’. The ‘stare off’ between Lewis and Max wasn’t to this effect. Do you know what was? 

The stare that Alonso gave Vettel before the formation lap in Interlagos in 2012, and the stare Vettel gave Alonso in the mirror in reply was ‘ice cold’. That was before Formula One was a television show, that was when it was a sport. 

The FIA report into Abu Dhabi better show me a clear way in which the sport will be run in the future. As I mentioned in my article about how it was for 2022 or bust for Formula 1, the big people in charge will need to prove that F1 is about sporting integrity and not television entertainment. 

The more I think about it combined with the more footage I see and the more people I hear speaking out about it, the more I worry for the future. Both MotoGP as an institution and an 8 time rally champion have spoken about the manipulation of the race director in the last 48 hours. Lewis Hamilton’s last ever radio message in Formula 1 might just say ‘this is being manipulated man’. Lance Stroll was furious he couldn’t get involved with the racing on the final lap because he was one of the only three unable to overtake the safety car. Both McLaren drivers expressed their concern about how the race ended. It wasn’t just a small portion of Lewis Hamilton fans who were angry with what happened.

It was the whole world. And Formula One’s amazing #HistoryAwaits campaign came crashing down as people saw the mess that was made. It got people talking about the sport, but not in the right way. I really think this makes the FIA’s report even more important – if it is not convincing enough, the hole becomes even deeper. 

I have to say I hope Max Verstappen is proud of his championship. Both drivers deserved it in equal measure, and Verstappen drove very well all season. It’s definitely not a shame for Red Bull that the championship ended how it did, but the way they tried to take the moral high ground after the chequered flag was almost laughable. The toxicity coming from all those in Red Bull was extreme in 2021, and it was something very polarising for fans. It just fuelled the fire on social media. To then make themselves seem like the good guys was ironic. 

But I await 2022 with a lack of renewed interest. To me, indycar has a bigger appeal (but that’s mainly because I’m a big Marcus Ericsson fan). I hope Formula One does make itself a sport again and not a show. I want to fall back in love with the motorsport series that I once adored. I still like it; I will still watch it. 

But at the moment some of the passion in my heart for it has died. I hope 2022 revives my appeal in the SPORT, not the show. I will be at Silverstone in July, and I really hope it is as good as it has been for me in previous years. I love the event, and I’m sure I will enjoy it just as much come July. Maybe I’m going through a phase at the moment, but Abu Dhabi left me with a sour taste. 

Formula One has had over 1000 scintillating Grand Prix in its illustrious history. Let’s not make one spoil its legacy.