Horner: 'Drive to Survive initially would only be about Red Bull'

'Drive to Survive opened US market'

The number of fans of Formula 1, especially in the United States, has exploded in the last five years. This is largely due to the popular Netflix series. This surge in popularity in the US is making a lot of money not only for the sport but also for the teams. That is how Horner sees it. According to the Red Bull team boss, Drive to Survive has opened up the entire US market.

Horner: "And now, you know, we've got five Fortune 500 partners on the car now. We've got such a big following in the U.S. Vegas is going to be insane. And that would have been unimaginable even four or five years ago." Red Bull was the only top team to participate directly in the Netflix production. The two other top teams of the time, Mercedes and Ferrari, did not step in until later seasons. Horner explains why Red Bull participated immediately.

Drive to Survive would actually be a Red Bull documentary

It seemed almost inevitable that Red Bull was in the first season of the series. Indeed, Horner says: "I think it just exposed, you know, some of the characters, some of the personalities, because originally that show was just going to be about Red Bull. It was just going to be a fly on the wall just about Red Bull. And they went to Formula 1, and they said, we'd like to do this show about, you know, the Red Bull Racing Formula 1 team. And Formula 1 said we can't really do that for one team. We need to do it for everybody."

The producers then came back to Red Bull with the news that the series would be about all the F1 teams. Horner: "And at that point, Ferrari and Mercedes didn't want to get involved. I think Mercedes thought they could do a better deal on their own and Ferrari is just naturally cautious. But you know, from the get-go we embraced it and said, OK, come and see who we are. And it's been an incredible success."