Formula 1: Drive to Survive

Formula 1: Drive to Survive is a television documentary series produced in a collaboration between Netflix and Formula One, to give a behind-the-scenes look at the drivers and races of the Formula One World Championship. The series has received one season per year since 2019, and a total of six seasons have been released, with the latest season aired on 23 February 2024. A crossover event with Full Swing broadcast on Netflix in November 2023 called The Netflix Cup.

Production and concept

On 24 March 2018, Formula One announced that Netflix had commissioned a ten episode docu-series giving an exclusive behind the scenes look at the 2018 Formula One World Championship. On 24 July 2019, Formula One announced that a second season would premiere in 2020 covering the 2019 Formula One World Championship, involving all 10 teams.

The series is executively produced by James Gay-Rees and Paul Martin for the production company, Box to Box Films. Sophie Todd is the production's showrunner.

Gay-Rees subsequently went on to reveal to The Fast Lane Podcast that Drive to Survive had originally been conceived as a series revolving solely around Red Bull Racing before it evolved into a series about F1 in general.

Filming began for the 2020 season in March but was suspended until July due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cast

Drivers

• Daniel Ricciardo
• Lewis Hamilton
• Pierre Gasly
• Max Verstappen
• Sergio Pérez
• Carlos Sainz Jr.
• Charles Leclerc
• Sebastian Vettel
• Kevin Magnussen
• Lance Stroll
• Kimi Räikkönen
• Valtteri Bottas
• Lando Norris
• George Russell
• Esteban Ocon
• Alexander Albon
• Romain Grosjean
• Nico Hülkenberg
• Daniil Kvyat
• Antonio Giovinazzi
• Fernando Alonso
• Marcus Ericsson
• Stoffel Vandoorne
• Robert Kubica
• Yuki Tsunoda
• Mick Schumacher
• Nyck de Vries
• Zhou Guanyu
• Oscar Piastri
• Nikita Mazepin
• Nicholas Latifi

Personnel

• Christian Horner
• Guenther Steiner
• Cyril Abiteboul
• Zak Brown
• Eric Boullier
• Vijay Mallya
• Toto Wolff
• Mattia Binotto
• Claire Williams
• Otmar Szafnauer
• Lawrence Stroll
• Jost Capito
• Franz Tost
• Laurent Rossi
• Susie Wolff
• Stefano Domenicali
• Michael Masi
• Frédéric Vasseur
• Peter Bayer
• James Vowles

Pundits

• Will Buxton
• Chris Medland
• Jennie Gow
• Danica Patrick

Episode lists

Season 1 (2019)

Season 2 (2020)

Season 3 (2021)

Season 4 (2022)

Season 5 (2023)

Season 6 (2024)

Reception

The show has received recognition for the additional insight it offers fans, and is credited with attracting new audiences (particularly American) to the sport. The condensing of season-long themes into single-episode narratives has drawn praise for adapting "the natural drama of a racing season into a narrative that can encourage a fan to tune into the real thing."

However, Drive to Survive has been criticized for including fake or misplaced commentary and team radios, staging certain scenes, placing undue importance on test and practice sessions, and over-dramatizing or misrepresenting certain events and relationships within the Formula One paddock. The continued criticism from both audiences and drivers led to discussions between Netflix and team managers and between Formula One and drivers.

Max Verstappen notably refused to participate in interviews for seasons 3 and 4 as he believed that the show dramatized some drivers by portraying them as villains and that the show manufactured fake rivalries. However, Verstappen confirmed his participation in season 5 after reaching an agreement with the producers to "keep it real".

Awards and nominations

Spin-offs

In 2020, a series similar to Drive to Survive was released on F1 TV based on the 2019 Formula 2 Championship, called Chasing the Dream. Subsequent second and third seasons were produced, each covering the 2020 and 2021 F2 Championships, premiering in 2021 and 2022 respectively. The fourth and fifth seasons, based on the 2022 and 2023 F2 Championships, were released on F1 TV as well as free-to-air on YouTube during the respective years. Other motorsports have jumped on the "Drive to Survive Train" with Formula E, NASCAR and IndyCar all showing their own respective docuseries.

See also

• Formula E: Unplugged
• Chasing the Dream
• NASCAR: Race for the Championship
• 100 Days to Indy

References

External links

• Formula 1: Drive to Survive on Netflix
• Formula 1: Drive to Survive at IMDb