Season seven of Formula 1’s hit Netflix series Drive to Survive is available to watch from Friday.
After a largely one-sided 2023 season, the programme makers had a lot more to work with last year. Which storylines did they cover, and how successful were they?
After watching all 10 episodes, here’s RaceFans’ verdict on which ones you should see – and which you can skip without missing anything.
Business As Usual
Verdict: Skip
Drive to Survive season seven leans on contrived exposition scenes like a drunk on a lamppost. The device pops up over and over, beginning with the conflab between the Horners which sets up the season-opener. Although this episode can’t resist a nod towards the other big story of the 2023-24 off-season – Lewis Hamilton signing for Ferrari – it centres on the allegations against Horner which were front page news 12 months ago.
As the various investigations meant Horner couldn’t speak on the subject, and the contents of the notorious Bahrain Grand Prix email leak are obviously not going to be shown, it makes for a thin episode. It ends by giving the impression the matter has been resolved, yet it remains to be seen whether this is in fact the case. Linking Max Verstappen’s retirement from the Australian Grand Prix to all this is tenuous even by DTS standards.
Frenemies
Verdict: Play
Verstappen may have resume co-operation with Netflix two years ago, but as he has a deal of his own with ViaPlay, we see much more of Lando Norris in this first of three episodes which focuses on last year’s championship fights.
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Norris is such a willing subject that there’s much more to get into here, including some excellent retro footage and the aftermath of his breakthrough win in Miami. Horner’s assessment of Norris’s mental state heading into one race is particularly brutal.
Looking Out For Number 1
Verdict: Skip
There’s no escape from the dreaded exposition scenes, which are so over-used in this episode it feels like a particularly wooden soap opera. George Russell appears in these with the natural ease of a hostage being prodded before the cameras.
Interesting to note, though, that although Mercedes have tried to play down expectations of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, here team principal Toto Wolff is already comparing him to Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna and – yes – Max Verstappen.
Carlos Signs
Verdict: Play
The three-way jockeying for the services of Carlos Sainz Jnr between Williams’ James Vowles, Sauber’s Alessandro Alunni Bravi and Alpine’s Flavio Briatore is ripe for DTS treatment. Sure enough, this is one of the better-handled episodes, with plenty of paddock intrigue to enjoy.
Also, bonus point for the witty title.
Le Curse Of Leclerc
Verdict: Skip
No points for that title, or the rest of the episode, which is a waste of time for anyone who knows a little about Formula 1. Last year’s Monaco Grand Prix was such a soporific affair the series has rushed in a knee-jerk rule change for this race only to prevent it happening again. So why devote a whole episode to it?
The answer is to wring the ‘Charles Leclerc finally wins home race after years of misfortune’ angle for all it’s worth. But the hysterical commentary on top of a race where the drivers were stroking their cars home for 77 laps is just comical.
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Wheels Of Fortune
Verdict: Play
More McLaren versus Red Bull rivalry. As has become familiar from past seasons of DTS, the verbal barbs are seldom delivered by the drivers, more often by their team bosses, above all Horner, who only seems to open his mouth to take a pop at his McLaren counterpart in this episode.
Here we get plenty of McLaren tying themselves in knots over whether and how to impose a running order on their drivers. The story comes across well on the whole, though the implication Norris’s Q1 elimination was his fault rather than poor luck isn’t accurate or fair.
The cut from McLaren CEO Zak Brown watching footage of his teenage self on quiz show Wheel of Fortune to McLaren’s distinctive wheel covers is a neat touch, though.
In The Heat Of The Night
Verdict: Play
A welcome change of direction here, as the filmmakers gave five drivers phones to capture their own video during the Singapore Grand Prix. It makes for one of the best episode of the series, particularly as it gets away from some of the more well-trodden storylines.
Elbows Out
Verdict: Play
“The Netflix story is not working,” is the pithy observation from Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko which captures this episode. Series favourite Daniel Ricciardo does not get to fulfil the redemption arc he was set up for, losing his seat to Liam Lawson, who then puts Sergio Perez’s nose out of joint by humiliating him in front of his home crowd, then taking his seat.
Again, there are some obviously acted scenes, and it doesn’t shed much light on Red Bull’s decision-making, not least its lack of interest in Yuki Tsunoda. But there are some amusing paddock moments and a particularly revealing interview with Ricciardo which is not to be missed.
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Under New Management
Verdict: Skip
A snarling Briatore trashes Esteban Ocon as a “spoiled brat”, insists he’s lost all motivation and lays the ground for a sacking. Ocon’s strong drive to second in Brazil fits neither Briatore’s narrative not Netflix’s, and he is duly shown the door one race early. The driver deserve credit for his composure in not rising to the bait.
A rivalry between Ocon and his replacement, reserve driver Jack Doohan, is confected, notwithstanding the fact Ocon’s departure from the team was announced as early as June. At least Claire Williams is on hand to spell out the obvious point the episode otherwise tries to avoid: “Briatore just wanted him gone from the team.”
End Game
Verdict: Skip
Drive to Survive’s finales tend to suffer from the difficulty of bringing anything new to the championship storyline, not to mention the consistently poor racing at Yas Marina. The final episode is not without its moments, however, notably Briatore’s comments to Pierre Gasly and Juan Pablo Montoya’s remarkably prescient observation about Verstappen.
The episode concludes with Wolff narrating an advert for a messaging service, dressed up as a farewell to the Ferrari-bound Hamilton, which many will have heard when it did the rounds on social media three months ago. For all the series’ behind-the-scenes insights, ending on something so dated was an odd choice.
Over to you
Have you watched any of the new series of Drive to Survive? Share your views on season seven in the comments.
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