Drive to Survive is back. The sixth season of the Netflix show that brought Formula 1 to a wider audience features Lewis Hamilton insisting that he warned Mercedes of the flaws of their fateful 2022 car design (that aged pretty well) and that he couldn’t see himself driving for another team (that didn’t).
But there is far more to the F1 travelling circus than Hamilton’s impending move to Ferrari and the Christian Horner investigation. So, here are the storylines to look out for in the new series.
• Mercedes is my home, Hamilton tells Netflix before defection
Female representation
Danica Patrick is a new voice, as one of the narrators of the series. The 41-year-old American was the first woman to win a race in the IndyCar Series and earned pole position in the NASCAR Cup Series. She has been a regular in the F1 paddock as part of Sky Sports’ team.
Her highlight comes when attempting to explain the thoughts of AlphaTauri rookie Liam Lawson, who makes his debut mid-season after an injury to Daniel Ricciardo. “This could be his only opportunity to prove himself in an F1 car. He’s probably shitting himself,” she says.
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Claire Williams also returns as another talking head, and her perspective — having struggled as deputy team principal at Williams — enhances the episodes focusing on Zak Brown and Otmar Szafnauer. Data from series five of the show found that women spoke for only six minutes, seven seconds out of a total run time of more than 6½ hours, equating to 1.54 per cent of the show’s ten episodes.
It’s not always about the fastest driver
As has been the case in previous seasons, the highlight of Drive to Survive is the stories which are usually lost, or covered in less detail by traditional media. Lawson is a star both in the series and on track, having been thrust onto the grid without even performing a start or a pitstop in an F1 car.
His parents travelled to the race in Singapore and watched as he performed brilliantly. In one team radio clip, Lawson asks which driver he is competing with, only to be told that Max Verstappen is behind him. But he manages to halt Red Bull’s progress for a few corners and finish in ninth.
The 22-year-old Kiwi is then called into a meeting with Christian Horner, the Red Bull boss, who tells him that he won’t get a drive with their sister team in 2024 because Yuki Tsunoda and Ricciardo are retaining their seats. What follows is Netflix gold, as Lawson is interviewed immediately after the meeting. “I’ve just beaten the guy who got the seat. It was meant to be me,” he says.
The Ricciardo factor
As Alex Albon points out, there will have been few people more delighted about the return of Ricciardo to the grid than the producers at Netflix. The 34-year-old Australian is a firm favourite in the series, and episode two provides interesting insight into his role as third Red Bull driver at the start of the year, which Horner makes clear is essentially a glorified marketing role.
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“I’m preparing all of Max [Verstappen] and Checo’s [Sergio Pérez] meals,” Ricciardo jokes at one event. He manages to find his trademark grin for all the people keen to meet him, but by the end his true happiness is found, as he finds himself back on the grid.
Off-season fun
Formula 1 drivers are just like most people — in their off-season at least. Lance Stroll is snowboarding, Esteban Ocon somersaults into the sea in France, and Pierre Gasly goes on holiday with friends in Italy, saying: “I’m going to be absolutely hammered.”
Verstappen plays padel. “It’s very important for me, the off season,” he says. “Just enjoy life. Not having your phone and emails about Formula 1. If I get these kinds of things between the middle of December to the middle of January, it really pisses me off.”
What awaits Hamilton at Ferrari?
Episode eight is dedicated to Ferrari and the love affair they hold with the Tifosi, their passionate fans. Driving into Monza for the Italian Grand Prix had Carlos Sainz’s mother close to tears with the enthusiasm with which they greeted her son. It also highlights the “unique” character of Fred Vasseur, the Ferrari team principal, as clips of those watching in Italy at homes, cafés, garages and barber shops judge him. “You couldn’t have a less ‘Ferrari’ person running Ferrari — and he’s not even Italian,” Will Buxton, another talking head, says.
There are also glimpses of Charles Leclerc being a willing team-mate, sacrificing his own race in Singapore for Sainz. “The best thing I can do as a driver is help us to be a better team.” The underlying message is, ‘If Ferrari wins, everyone [in Italy] is happy.’
Where are Red Bull?
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Winning 21 of 22 races and utterly dominating, but Netflix appear to have decided that Red Bull were the least interesting of narratives this season, while other teams have almost entire episodes dedicated to them. Verstappen’s success was interesting enough, but Netflix could also have focused on Sergio Pérez’s struggles on the other side of the garage.
Horner and Halliwell
There is plenty of Horner, though — specifically his family life with Geri Halliwell. The scenes include a visit to see Father Christmas, and a trip to the stables where Horner’s daughter asks him who his favourite driver is, before he admits to having a soft spot for Ricciardo.
Alpine drama
The only French team, with an all-French driver line-up. What could go wrong? Everything, as it turned out. Bizarrely, team principal Szafnauer was aware of the chequered history between Ocon and Gasly, who first met at the age of six as karting drivers and come from the same part of Normandy, 20 minutes apart. Szafnauer felt he could somehow put their rivalry to one side but ended up foreshadowing their drama with a media karting day which ended with Ocon crashing in his eagerness to beat Gasly. A striking shot of Szafnauer, alone on the pitwall shortly before he is fired, is a powerful one.
Sponsor pressure
For much of the season, fans see sponsor names emblazoned on cars, and probably give little thought to what it all means behind the scenes. Good insight is provided from a meeting with Zak Brown, who is under pressure at the start of the season, and Nick Drake, the vice-president of global marketing at Google, Sameer Samet, general manager and vice-president of Android ecosystem, and Haider Rafique, Okx chief marketing officer, as they grill him on how and when progress will be made.
A new star is born
In episode four, detailing the race to avoid finishing last between Haas and Williams, Guenther Steiner, perhaps the biggest personality to be created by the series, is overshadowed by James Vowles, the Williams team principal.
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“The role of the team principal has migrated. I will be the first to admit I am pretty geeky,” Vowles said, before an endearing sequence of clips in which he explains in detail to a colleague why he only drinks caffeine on a Sunday. Otherwise, he says, you use caffeine to get to a normal state rather than an elevated state. He also asks for acai to be removed from his smoothie, fearing splattering it on his white shirt, and needs four takes to say his name, age and job title.
The Strolls
Lance Stroll has not always been the most popular driver on the grid, partly thanks to the investment of his father Lawrence Stroll, who is executive chairman and part owner of the driver’s Aston Martin team team. Episode one, Money Talks, gives a slightly more human side to Stroll (senior), as he embraces his son after he delivers an impressive performance in Bahrain only two weeks after fracturing both wrists and his big toe in a biking accident in the off-season.
Netflix enjoyed…
The presence of Netflix in the paddock, and essentially everywhere on a race weekend, is not without its controversy in Formula 1, but they still captured plenty of clips that will have pleased them. One example is a conversation between George Russell and Lando Norris on a private jet, where Russell explains his Williams contract included a clause not to drink during a race weekend. “I’m not going to say names but there’s definitely some people who drink. I’ve seen it,” he adds.
The demotion of Nyck de Vries, enabling Ricciardo’s return, is another storyline which felt almost written for Netflix.
Mind your language
This is the final season of Steiner, at least in his Haas team principal role, after being sacked before the 2024 race calendar begins. However, Netflix appear to have added some additional swearing in his honour, throughout all ten episodes but particularly in the first. Start as you mean to go on…
