An important year for Formula 1 comes to an exciting end

(CNN) – This weekend, Lewis Hamilton or Max Verstappen will win the Formula 1 championship. Either way, the sport won big in 2021.

This year’s success begins with a boom in the sports fan base that can be attributed to the documentary series “Drive to Survive“from Netflix.

The program is an intensive course on the 10 teams, the 20 drivers, the rivalries between them and the structure of the racing competition. A word-of-mouth campaign for the series along with short, easy-to-watch episodes made it a perfect pandemic binge watch for millions of people around the world.

The series’ intimate interviews, combined with the best of racing action and high-end drama, are a solid tone for the real-life Formula 1 spectacle.

The multi-faceted storytelling allows fans to focus on the aspects of the sport that appeal to them the most. Most importantly, “Drive to Survive” prepared fans for an easy transition to the track when the 2021 season began.

The popularity of the Netflix show, especially in the US, has paid off. ESPN says its racing audience in 2021 is up 56% over 2020.

There was a record attendance at the United States Grand Prix in Austin this October; The hosts also credit the documentary series for the growth of the sport, including Hamilton himself.

The title race captivates

New fans are important, but getting them to keep up the sport is essential.

This year’s consistent action on the track anchored by the Hamilton-Verstappen title fight has satisfied the second part of that equation.

Everyone’s eyes will be on the 58 laps in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, the final race to determine who takes home the title. Until the last lap, every second of the season has been and will be a nail bite.

All the variables that led the two drivers to count the exact same score before the final is what kept fans’ attention all season long.

Think of Verstappen’s car perched on top of Hamilton’s after the crash at Monza or the foreboding smoke rising from Hamilton’s brakes seconds before the restart in Baku.

The best race is when the two of them are at it, wheel by wheel, like they did in the opening laps of the British Grand Prix.

Sprint Qualifying, a format introduced three weekends this season, was seen in the community as a controversial addition to the sport. Despite that, it provided something new for fans who welcomed the additional races.

F1 still has improvements to make in various fronts that would make sport and the viewing experience more inclusive.

The need for greater diversity behind the wheel and within the institution remains evident. The league’s first full-time Chinese driver, Guanyu Zhou, he’ll be a very welcome addition to the track when he makes his debut next season.

However, it is hard to ignore how white and male dominate the sport.

The FIA, the sport’s governing body, also has work to do to make the rules more transparent and easy to follow.

The commentators do their best to make sense of the calls made by the stewards, but sometimes even they are left scratching their heads: the driver and team penalties often seem entirely arbitrary or poorly explained.

Fan accessibility will continue to be a challenge. Part of that is built in because F1 is a world sport with just over 20 events a year.

Those limitations make attending a race weekend expensive. For American fans eager to get to a race, there’s good news: One race at Miami next season means two races in the US for the first time since 1984.

After the exciting culmination of this season, anticipation arrives for the next, with new car designs and some changes to the driver lineup.

The fourth season of “Drive to Survive” is also imminent. All of that adds to the feeling that there is much more to come in this sport.