By Max Miranda
“Formula 1: Drive to Survive” is an action packed docu-series that takes fans inside the realities of being a Formula 1 driver. The fifth season of Netflix’s racing show arrives in the form of “Formula 1: Drive to Survive.”
The docu-series focuses on new cars, as Formula 1 wants to produce better racing.
The teams in Formula 1 include: Mercedes, Red Bull Racing, Ferrari, McLaren, Alpine, Alfa Romeo, Alpha Tauri, Aston Martin, Haas F1 and Williams.
Each episode focuses on a team principal and driver as Netflix shows what goes on behind-the-scenes of each team. The docu-series creates drama when an event happens.
Ferrari’s team principal Mattia Binotto, and Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner are introduced at the start of the series.
Ferrari has high expectations as they want to compete for a championship.
Meanwhile, Haas is looking to bounce back after a rough 2021 season. The team scored zero points the whole season.
Three weeks before the start of the season teams tested new cars in Barcelona. News broke out about the war between Russia and Ukraine, Steiner had to make a decision whether to keep or terminate his Russian driver, Nikita Mazepin.
Steiner doesn’t want to associate with Russia anymore, and terminated Mazepin’s contract immediately.
His Russian driver and his Russian sponsor Uralkali are gone.
The docu-series showcases the whole season where they show the tracks they race on as Formula 1 races all over the world. From destinations in Asia, Europe, to North and South America, Formula 1 ran twenty-two races in 2022.
As the season progresses, the docu-series shows the highs and lows for each team, where drivers can be moved next season, or not having a seat for next season.
This causes the viewer to feel bad for them, because they try their hardest, but the team doesn’t care and are only looking for the drivers with best results.
Viewers hear the “silly season” rumors about certain drivers going to different teams and wonder what’s really going on behind-the-scenes.
Netflix wants to get every small detail in what happens on a day-to-day life of these drivers and team principals. They tend to go overboard at times as Formula 1 drivers have complained that they don’t like how they are portrayed throughout the series.
2021 Formula 1 World Champion and Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen, disagreed with the creative methods the directors took with some of the storylines last season.
Verstappen also was unhappy about how they portray McLaren driver Lando Norris. Netflix viewed Norris as this bully toward his teammate Daniel Ricciardo when that isn’t the case as both are very close friends.
There’s a lot of ground to cover throughout the series but there’s certain points that are talked about:
There is a brand new circuit in Miami on the outskirts of Miami Dolphins Hard Rock Stadium.
A four-time World Champion creates an Instagram account and the drivers find out that he is announcing his retirement at the end of the season.
An up and coming driver has a team announce he will sign a deal to drive for them next season. He then goes on Twitter and contradicts the claim, and he signs a deal with a rival team instead.
The one thing that brings it down is how the season went on.
Ferrari is fast, yet unreliable. Red Bull is on top of the world as they dominate the season. Mercedes struggles but get back on track.
Netflix likes to create drama with this series, and there was some drama, but not as much as some hoped for.
“Formula 1: Drive to Survive” is a solid docu-series, but this season was a bit of a letdown, primarily how the Formula 1 season went.
The docu-series is perfect for Formula 1 fans or if you like racing in general. If you’re a viewer who likes a drama-filled series, then this docu-series is not for you.
Produced by Paul Martin and James Gay-Rees, “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” season five released on February 24, and Netflix has confirmed to release a sixth season next year.