Drive to Survive Season 5 will impress fans but misses key aspect
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Season 5 of Netflix’s Drive to Survive strikes a much better balance between over-dramatic scenes and interesting insight that the traditional Formula 1 fan will find informative and purposeful. Though there are still areas that are missed and should be covered to fulfil the promise of unfiltered access. GPblog recieved early access to the series.
This year’s 10-episode show brings a family feel and highlights the personalities away from the track as well as at the Grands Prix. If you’ve previously thought the Netflix documentary was over the top, give this series a go.
The second half of the 2022 Formula 1 season was dominated by Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing. Whilst the high quality of his and Red Bull’s season was under-portrayed by Netflix, it’s hardly a surprise to see them focus more on Sergio Perez’s contract situation and the cost cap saga as those naturally carry more dramatic scenes. The battle at the top of the World Championship wasn’t anywhere near as exciting as 2021 and perhaps this has been a blessing in disguise for Netflix.
Instead of heavily focusing on what’s happening on the track and therefore producing the dramatic cut scenes to hype the tension, Netflix have focused off-track to provide more behind-the-scenes content than ever before. There are of course glimpses of track action throughout, but only the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix features a proper ‘highlights show’ of the race. Helpful for the traditional F1 who has already watched most races multiple times.
Once again, Netflix have embedded their cameras and microphones everywhere. All conversations are picked up. F1 fans will be pleased to see that pedal cam and helmet cam all feature in the series. These two camera angles received many positive reviews from F1 fans watching the weekend coverage. Whilst they only make brief cameo appearances, it’s great to see Netflix paying attention to this and bringing this element to Drive to Survive.
There’s also some new footage from Zhou’s crash at Silverstone. During the moment all fans had their hearts in their mouth, we get to see how doctors pulled Zhou out of the car and into the ambulance. George Russell’s efforts are also highlighted again. Another brilliant insight into how the doctors and medics work in F1, similar to how Netflix portrayed Romain Grosjean’s crash in 2020.
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Zig zag through the season
The season starts with the bromance we didn’t know we needed between Gunther Steiner and Mattia Binotto. This kickstarts a real family feel theme that runs throughout the series and includes various home and holiday visits to showcase the F1 personnel away from the trackside pressures of the sport. Steiner’s wife gets in on the act, and Ginger Spice Geri Horner sheds her opinion on the various storylines unfolding in Formula 1. These cut scenes add an extra dose of humanity
Netflix continue their now traditional back-and-forth zig-zag through the season. The 2022 British Grand Prix at Silverstone features as a key pivot in various storylines in the first half of the season. But it starts logically with the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Netflix cameras showcase how important that race win was for Ferrari. On the other side of the fence, Red Bull Racing recorded a double DNF. Through the F1 season it became easy to forget about that, but Drive to Survive reminds us of how concerned Red Bull were in Bahrain. Perhaps some concern and frustration that wasn’t shown or portrayed publicly at the time of the event.
The traditional Formula 1 fan is often critical of the show, but their dreams of being a fly on the wall in a Team Principal meeting can now come true. Here, Toto Wolff fights for changes to be made relating to porpoising which turns into a heated discussion with Horner. There’s even a little snide comment of “let’s go porpoising” from another team boss when the meeting concludes.
Again, this is a brilliant part of the documentary. Christian Horner accuses Toto Wolff of acting up to the Netflix cameras and there’s probably an element of that. Or at least Netflix turn up the heat, but it’s great to see a raw reaction from Wolff as he fought for changes to be implemented. If anything, this scene is too short but it does give us insight into how the other team bosses reacted.
The series then shifts gears and gives a behind-the-scenes look at one of F1’s most discussed contract debates between Alpine, McLaren and Oscar Piastri. We also hear various contract options for Alpine and a hint at some negotiations. Towards the end, there’s an episode that zooms in on the Red Bull cost cap storyline. This adds much-needed heat and spice. It showcases how much stress and pressure the whole situation placed on Christian Horner and we get to hear how the team reacted initially. This is the episode most fans will be jumping to when season five of Drive to Survive launches on February 24, 2023.
What do we miss?
Netflix fans like to brand these shows with the phase unfiltered access. However, we are still missing a very crucial part of the Formula 1 weekend. It’s a talking point every single season, and there were some big question marks over it in 2022. What happens in the Stewards room? For Netflix to continue evolving, they need to get their cameras and microphones where stewards are making the decisions. This is an interesting off-track element missed during 2022.
It seems like Netflix completely missed the Brazilian Grand Prix. Magnussen’s surprise pole, Russell’s first win and the issue between Perez and Verstappen are all glossed over. The latter in particular was a spicy story that could continue to rumble on through 2023. Magnussen and Russell’s stories were proper feel good moments missed.
Overall, Netflix have done another good job and achieved their purposes. Their audience is changing from brand new to more experienced and knowledgeable of F1 which could explain why it’s more tailored to the traditional fan. The key aspect of stewards' decisions is missing, but at least they still have growth potential for season six.