Formula One final, Trafalgar Square’s Christmas tree and the Harry Potter reunion

After 23 races in what has been tipped as one of the most gripping seasons in Formula One’s history, the conclusion came in the form of an explosive, controversial, and arguably manufactured final few minutes where Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton both had the title in arms reach. In the end it was Max that stood on the podium top spot enjoying a champagne-fight with Red Bull Team Principal (and husband of Ginger Spice, which isn’t relevant to the story but worth mentioning nonetheless) Christian Horner, but there has been a lot of controversy about how he got there.

Hamilton supporter or not, the general consensus from commentators is that, without the last-minute decision from race director, Michael Masi, to pull in the safety car immediately, and allow some lapped cars that Hamilton had spent time weaving around to overtake the safety car, and who bridged a gap between Hamilton and Verstappen, Mercedes were virtually guaranteed a win and Hamilton would have been celebrating his eighth world championship win. Although gripping, the controversy seemed a waste of what had been an exciting year of racing as well as a real opportunity to firmly bring in new fans of the sport following the hugely popular Netflix show, Drive to Survive.

Also this month, Londoners did more of what Londoners love to do: complain. The subject of chagrin on this occasion was this years’ Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square, which was deemed by some on Twitter to be “spindly”, “ropey” and “half-dead”. The Squares’s Christmas tree has been an annual gift since 1947 from Norway to thank Britain for its support during WW2 and is traditionally a Norway Spruce. Legitimately, the call to request for a replacement was turned down.

Something to really look forward to this festive season is the televised Harry Potter reunion which will be available to watch in the first couple of days of 2022 (which can only be an early sign of a better year to look forward to). The cast of the famous franchise, which includes Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Gary Oldman, Robbie Coltrane and others will join Chris Columbus, who directed the first two Potter films and produced the third, to discuss the films.