The Netflix original sports documentary “Drive to Survive” has been a focal point of the growth of Formula One in the U.S. and was the reason I got into the sport.
The 10-episode Netflix docuseries is a backstage pass to Formula One, giving fans an inside look at the thrilling, real-life drama beyond the broadcast. By revealing the intense rivalries and showcasing the high-stakes nature of the sport, it has made Formula One into more than just a race.
The most recent season was released on March 7 — one week prior to the start of the 2025 campaign — recapping the 2024 season that was nothing less than intense.
Whether it was Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton leaving the team to join Ferrari after 12 seasons with the Silver Arrows, the Red Bull Racing dominance fading or the Red Bull team principal Christian Horner’s investigation, the show jumps into everything right away and showed what made the season great.
The show starts with the biggest news of the season, the Hamilton departure and the Horner investigation in the first episode. We see how the loss of Hamilton affected Mercedes for the rest of the season because of the relationship between his team principal.
It’s covered early in episode one, with Netflix in the room when Hamilton and team principal Toto Wolff reconvene at Mercedes’ car launch. We see raw comments from Wolff weaved in, such as his questions over the timing of Hamilton’s move, while a scene in episode three sees him run through potential driver options, including Red Bull driver Max Verstappen.
It was important to cover it early because the move from Hamilton was before the season and sent shockwaves through the Formula One paddock, influencing the driver market. This topic was dragged along through the season making it a great start to the season.
The show addresses Hamilton’s move to Ferrari at the jump, but there’s little mention of him for the rest of the season. Not even his victory at Silverstone which broke a 31-month winless streak for Hamilton. With his following that comes with the name Lewis Hamilton, he was absent from most of the season which was surprising to say the least.
The best way to see how “Drive to Survive” gives you an inside look, is to watch episode seven, “In The Heat Of The Night,” where Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, McLaren’s Lando Norris, Williams’ Alex Albon and Mercedes’ George Russell filmed portions of their Singapore Grand Prix weekends on phones.
The Singapore grand prix is one of the most mentally and physically straining because of the 86 degrees Fahrenheit heat that affected the drivers while driving 62 laps. This episode offers a glimpses into that, especially with Russell, as cameras follow him in the after the race where he breaks down from overheating.
While this may have been to watch how much it affected Russell it stayed true to the premise of show’s goal of revealing what we don’t see from the broadcasts.
While there were the normal cameras used in the episode, the more personal iPhone footage gives us a closer look into the drivers’ weekends through the creative angles that the drivers wanted to show .
This was deliberate, according to executive producer Tom Hutchings who told The Athletic: “We are conscious of telling the same stories from previous seasons so we look for new angles or new ways of telling them.”
While the season delved into the grueling 2024 season it doesn’t cover every storyline.
For example, “Drive to Survive” leaves out some of the less headline-grabbing moments, Ferrari reserve driver Oliver Bearman scoring points on his debut, Russell’s disqualification at the Belgium Grand Prix or Williams reserve driver Franco Collapinto making a name for himself.
Of course, it is tough to cover every single storyline that happened on and off track from the 2024 season in just 10 episodes. But as a diehard fan of the show, it would be more influential to see these stories in the season to see the whole story. But I understand these topics may not have received the same media attention as others in the season; it makes sense why they didn’t cover them in the show. Their influence had on the season was shown to be worth nothing.
“Drive to Survive” excels at giving us an inside look at the thrilling, real-life drama behind the racetrack and played a key role in helping me get into the sport, and I hope the show has the same impact on you as it did for me.
