Warning… spoilers!
Go ahead, Drive to Survive entertains and allows you to discover things that you can’t get to know in any other way. That it is even necessary and interesting, and that it has brought a large base of new fans to Formula 1, which is always to be celebrated and even appreciated. Go ahead, I hope it has a long life and continues to be made for many years.
From season 4 of Drive to Survive , the one referring to the 2021 F1 season, several things stand out. For example, the Haas chapter is brilliant in uncovering the power of Nikita Mazepin’s father, who threatens the team with withdrawing sponsorship from the now-absent Uralkali on the grounds that they give him a different car than his teammate Mick Schumacher.
There are also interesting things in unpublished scenes from the season finale, such as when Mazepin reveals that he has been asked to fight Hamilton and that he has been asked… by a British fan. Or see how Christian Horner is not shy about insulting Toto Wolff when he sees his statements on the screen.
However, the feeling remains that the opportunity to do something incredible is wasted with a season that was exciting and that had drama and action throughout. Let’s go with the defects that we took out of Drive to Survive 4 .
1) Formula 1 or Formula Ricciardo? Drive to Survive has the McLaren driver as a star again
Who doesn’t like Daniel Ricciardo? He is a unique character, a pilot who is overflowing with charisma, cheerful, and would be the star of any story that appeared on the big screen. However, that Drive to Survive shows you year after year as the driver down and frustrated by not finding the sweet spot for the car seems exaggerated and unnecessary.
They dedicate up to two chapters to him (out of ten, beware, 20% of the series is for him), and beyond his victory in the Italian GP, there were not many more reasons for him to have more importance than, for example, his co-worker. A Lando Norris who comes out in his shadow but who took many points from him and whose defeat due to the rain at the end of the race in Russia and subsequent reaction, for example, would have been worth a story.
2) I put down champions like Alonso, Vettel and Raikkonen in Drive to Survive 4
If Ricciardo’s excessive prominence is surprising, the opposite happens with three drivers who add up to seven Formula 1 world championships.
It is true that Fernando Alonso is an ‘Amazon driver’, but he had no problem appearing on a couple of occasions being interviewed, and yet he is ignored for much of the season. That the Hungarian GP (where the victory of his teammate Ocon is rightly reviewed) is counted without making a single reference to Alonso’s fierce defense against Hamilton cries out to heaven. Precisely those laps are the ones that would make fans, that of a car 2.5 seconds slower being able to stop the then champion.
It was perhaps not the easiest year for Sebastian Vettel, but he managed to take second in Baku with the seventh car on the grid and another second place in Hungary (which appears, but is only mentioned in the race narration) after which he was disqualified. There was a possible chapter there, in how the Aston Martin team faced the hours after, with appeal and protests.
When it comes to charisma and unique personality, not even Ricciardo beats Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn also retired last year after a successful career, and it would have been logical to dedicate at least part of a chapter to him. Yes, Kimi preferred to remain unnoticed, but the fans would have celebrated.
3) In Drive to Survive, eternal favoritism to Hamilton and Mercedes
Those who followed the historic 2021 season, even neutral people or fans of other drivers, took sides between Hamilton/Mercedes and Verstappen/Red Bull. However, anyone who watches Drive to Survive and doesn’t know what happened will believe that the former did nothing wrong and that the latter were the devil himself.
Because English never fails, and grand prix like Monaco or Hungary are pure bad luck. Not to mention the brutal accident between the two title rivals at Silverstone. After seeing from the hospital how Hamilton celebrated the victory, Verstappen will see, if he decides to take a look at Drive to Survive, an offensive smile while Hamilton explains that it was not his fault, or Wolff assuring that he could see that some rival would do something well because of the way Max drives.
Not to mention that the penalty in that race, 10 seconds that did not prevent Hamilton from winning, lasts in the series… 35 seconds! You can time it yourself. What intention is there in lengthening those 10 seconds to triple the time?
4) Ferrari in the shade… illogical in Drive to Survive 4
In the first season of the Netflix production (about F1 2018), Ferrari refused to participate. Then, they offered to appear in the following ones, but they will probably have lost the desire after seeing the new Drive to Survive.
Despite the fact that they comfortably conquered third position in the constructors’ championship, Ferrari always appears in the slipstream of McLaren, and they are only taken into account to talk about their rivals.
Obviously Gunther Steiner always deserves to come out, he’s the star and he plays, but there is, for example, a chapter dedicated to AlphaTauri and Yuki Tsunoda (which isn’t too bad either) and little or nothing about Ferrari.
If it’s about attracting new fans, wouldn’t it be fairer to give a better and above all better treatment to the most glorious team of all time? The past cannot be erased by sweeping.
5) Record what is planned and not what happens for Drive to Survive
We admit that it is impossible to have cameras to record everything that happens in the races. Perhaps it is a lack of resources, or a philosophy that they are not willing to change, but the feeling is that at Netflix they think about possible stories and then base their images and script on what they already had in mind, instead of doing the opposite.
This is how Norris-Ricciardo rivalries are imagined like in their day Ricciardo-Sainz or Sainz-Norris , or a bland chapter of Williams is created (in a year neither fú nor fá), instead of collecting, for example, the intrahistory of the scandalous ‘ No Belgian GP’ or how the different red flags were managed throughout the year.
In the end, the feeling in Drive to Survive 4 is similar to that of Drive to Survive 3: the shot to collect everything that was the protagonist fails and drivers and teams are forced to be, who, this time, did not have much experience.
