That “Formula 1: The Thrill of a Grand Prix” (or better known as ” Drive to Survive “) has had a positive impact on the sport cannot be denied, because it has given the highest category of motorsports a whole new audience, people who had little or no interest in F1 before the series launched in 2019. In the United States, in particular, the Big Circus gained many fans thanks to the Netflix production.
The rise in popularity in that country has contributed significantly to the fact that this year we have not one, but two races on American soil, with the new Grand Prix in Miami and, in addition, the ground is being prepared for a third in Las Vegas.
There are also plans for a new American Formula 1 team. Michael Andretti tried unsuccessfully last year to take over Alfa Romeo, but now the son of world champion Mario Andretti is aiming to compete in grand prix from 2024 with a completely new team. All this thanks to the momentum left by a series on a streaming platform.
In the Netherlands, home of the 2021 F1 champion, Max Verstappen had already turned the category’s popularity around in 2015, but here too, “Drive to Survive” notably created new momentum three years ago. Family and friends who had previously shunned her were enthralled by the sport and suddenly the whole world knew who Guenther Steiner was. The Italian became a cult hero with his emotional outbursts, endless cursing and controversial statements.
After the success of the first season, a second was inevitable, and now we are on the fourth, while the “Drive to Survive” camera crew was also seen at the winter tests in Barcelona to -we suppose- shoot images for a fifth delivery. Watching the series before the first race of the year has become a tradition for many, and at times it feels like a race to see who finishes it first.
Without Max, but with Verstappen
Fans may love the Netflix series, but Max Verstappen has repeatedly said that he doesn’t have an affinity for it. “I don’t like it at all,” the Dutchman said in 2020 of ‘Drive to Survive’ during an interview for sponsor G-Star RAW, “because there are quite a few things that aren’t real.”
The world champion gave specific examples of how the production can manipulate things to create a more dramatic story. “For example, I know the conversations I’ve had with my engineers. What I said in Australia or Austria, they use that for another Grand Prix to make it more exciting. I don’t think that’s acceptable, that’s just trying to find excitement.
For this reason, Verstappen decided not to participate in “Drive to Survive” anymore: “I understand that he has to use it to increase popularity in the United States, but as a driver I don’t like to participate in it.”
The one from Red Bull explained to the AP news agency in October his situation with the series: “Some rivalries have been invented that do not exist in real life. That is why I have decided not to participate in them anymore and not give them interviews, so they would not have nothing to show. I don’t like drama, I prefer facts and real things.”
An intense battle
The 2021 Formula 1 season will be remembered in the history of the category for the fight for the title that was decided on the final lap of the last race and which resulted in Max Verstappen becoming world champion for the first time. Also, in almost every grand prix something remarkable happened.
This time it was not necessary to dramatize the events because there was already enough show on the track, but the challenge for the creators had to be to answer the question “what do we include and what do we remove?”.
What the creators of “Drive to Survive” have proven to be masters of since 2019 is highlighting certain plot lines that unfold during a season. This time, of course, the fight for the world championship is highlighted, with the intensity for all involved. The way James Gay-Rees (Senna) and Paul Martin (Diego Maradona) portrayed everything, the tension between Red Bull and Mercedes, is even more tangible.
But there was also a lot to do in other parts of the grid. As our focus was mainly on the front end, the stories from the other teams were probably a bit overshadowed.
“Drive to Survive” deliberately chooses to also tell these stories as with Haas, who is under enormous pressure to survive, but refreshes the series by offering another point of view of the season from other crews and drivers.
Real racing fans will certainly be annoyed by the fake race commentary used to smoothly narrate the story, the overly detailed explanations – everyone already knows that ranking is about who gets the lap time. faster. But this is offset by great, fantastically edited footage and a unique behind-the-scenes look that the filmmakers are able to provide by going places the rest of the world doesn’t have access to.
In particular, the interaction between drivers and team owners remains a fascinating thing to watch, especially when they seem to forget that a microphone is on.
Thanks to the duel between Verstappen and Hamilton, the new season of “Drive to Survive” is the most intense and at the same time the least dramatized. It allows us to recall a historic year of Formula 1, while showing the sport from its toughest and most human side.
The first four episodes of the season don’t include recorded interviews with Verstappen for “Drive to Survive,” but that doesn’t mean the champion can’t be heard. During the first three seasons, the filmmakers of the docuseries had a habit of filming in the media sessions intended exclusively for the written press. Now that Verstappen no longer wanted to tell his story sitting in front of a black background, this was another way to give him a chance to speak.
With no separate interviews with Verstappen on “Drive to Survive,” there was a risk that relationships would be skewed in the episodes that focus on the title fight with Lewis Hamilton. After all, Mercedes has been collaborating since the second season of the series, after the German factory and Ferrari initially refused to open their doors to the cameras of the series in the first edition.
But now they let Red Bull team principal Christian Horner counter interviews with the Mercedes team. The Briton has had plenty of chances to speak, and regularly lashes out at the German marque’s factory team in front of the production cameras, as he did on many of last year’s Grand Prix weekends. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff initially gives an impression of arrogance, but then gets difficult when the team car isn’t up to the task. With the help of Geri Horner and Susie Wolff, we get to know the people behind those tense faces.
