Toto Wolff has likened the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to the newly-(re)elected United States President, Donald Trump, and the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union.
The Mercedes team principal highlighted how the contentious episode at the Yas Marina Circuit catalysed the boom that F1 continues to enjoy from Neflix's docu-series Drive to Survive.
Already riding the wave of the show's success, the contentious 2021 F1 season compounded that growth, as well as attracting new fans over the course of the hostile campaign between Mercedes and Red Bull - and their lead drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
Whilst the former has since - recently - moved on to pastures new at Ferrari, the latter has won the F1 drivers' title in each of the subsequent three seasons.
Nevertheless, Wolff can see the advantages that championship, and its ill-fated end, has afforded F1. However, he was also quick to acknowledge how divisive the season and its finale proved to be.
Throughout the campaign, tempers and tensions were not fraught merely within the confines of the F1 paddock.
It is something that exacerbated toxicity amongst F1 communities online, as fans of the two teams and drivers became further entrenched and polarised.
To Wolff, it can be considered in the same breath as seismic geo-political events, such as the rise - and staying power - of US President-elect Donald Trump, and Brexit, the colloquial name for the United Kingdom's referendum and subsequent decision to leave the European Union.
The 52-year-old suggested that due to the divisive nature of all three issues, each was a subject families would dare not broach when spending time together during holidays, namely Christmas.
"It's part of a great success we're having [in F1] today," the Austrian highlighted on the Armchair Experts with Dax Shepard podcast whilst reflecting on the infamous season. "It was really dramatic.
"And I remember, the topics that nobody wanted to touch on many Christmas tables was [Donald] Trump, Brexit and Abu Dhabi 2021."
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