In the annals of history, the pandemic-affected 2020 season of Formula 1 will go down as the year a certain Lewis Hamilton smashed numerous major records to win his seventh F1 Drivers’ Championship, his fourth on the trot. His closest rival was his own teammate at Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1, Valtteri Bottas, who finished some distance away in the final tally. Such was the Mercedes domination over the season that there seemed little else to it.
That is where Formula 1: Drive to Survive pitches its tent. Now into its third season, the latest iteration of the series is easily its most exciting one yet. As the show evolves, it is slowly becoming an indispensable part of the Formula 1 ecosystem for fans; because it goes beyond mere points and wins to take an in-depth look into the drama that plays out in the world of F1 – on the track, in the pitlane and beyond.
With the glitz and glamour surrounding top teams such as Ferrari and Mercedes, and skillful young racers such as Max Verstappen and Charles LeClerc, it is easy to forget that there are 10 teams and 20 drivers in the F1 paddock, and all their journeys to the pinnacle of motorsport are worth their weight in stories.
The latest season of the show completely shifts the spotlight from Hamilton and Mercedes, to look long and hard at the Constructors’ saga unfolding in the middle of the pack. Racing Point (formerly Force India, turning into Aston Martin Racing in 2021) has been rising through the ranks, battling with championship-winning teams of the past, the now-struggling Renault and McLaren. It reminds us of the terrible time that Ferrari is having – 2020 was a season that saw it finish a dismal sixth in the Constructors’ Championship, just above the bottom of the pack.
It follows the continuing dramatic journey of young Frenchman Pierre Gasly, who lost his prestigious seat at Red Bull Racing and was demoted to their junior team Alpha Tauri in the middle of the 2019 season. Since then, he has been winning fans across the globe with drives and finishes that punch well above Alpha Tauri’s weight. His storyline culminates in a spectacular result for him at Monza in Italy, often called the Temple of Speed.
Pierre Gasly today has more followers on Instagram than, for instance, the magnetic British former world champion Jenson Button. It isn’t a stretch to assume that the show’s exploration of Gasly’s rollercoaster journey has had a hand in the popularity of someone who’s ultimately a scrawny young bottom mid-field driver for now.
Interestingly, his teammate Daniil Kyvat has unfortunately been ignored for the third straight season of the show. While one can’t be certain why that is, one big reason could possibly be that the show tends to showcase the best characters in the F1 paddock front and centre.
So, the charismatic Team Principal of Red Bull Racing, Christian Horner, gets to opine and educate us about various incidents and drivers. The stoic Finn Valtteri Bottas becomes the unlikely hero of the storyline that covers Mercedes in this season. When the show does eventually spend some time on Hamilton, it does so with a perspective far greater than even his seven world titles.
And of course, we yet again get to meet the quirky Guenther Steiner, Team Principal of Haas F1, who made the word ‘wanker’ a rage after season one of Drive to Survive. The show also delves into the horrific, fiery accident of Haas driver Romain Grosjean at Bahrain last year. He was lucky to survive it with minor injuries, but it will likely go down as the last F1 race of his career.
With stories such as these, treated with unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to team honchos, drivers and never-before-seen race footage, Drive to Survive helps provide some great context for where exactly the sport is right now. All the backroom manoeuvring, driver transfers, team lineups, political games playing out between constructors about the legality of their various innovations – all of it is touched upon over 10 episodes of the season.
Even though the episodes unfold in a non-linear fashion as compared to the racing season itself, the show is gripping throughout, taking us through as many great storylines as possible. It gives fans more insight into the drivers and their lives, and ends up introducing you to a whole host of characters to root for, making the F1 experience go well beyond just the superstars battling it out to take the chequered flag in first place. (Women are conspicuously absent in the show for the most, but that’s an issue that needs a whole other piece.)
The show’s release also times perfectly with the 2021 racing season, which is just days away, kicking off on the last weekend of March. For existing fans, the series acts as a refresher. But more importantly, if anyone is looking to start following F1 now, you can just watch the latest season of the show, before starting off with the first race weekend of 2021.
There are some great arcs to follow in the 2021 F1 season – four-time champion Sebastian Vettel’s shock move from Ferrari to the new Aston Martin Racing team, the debut of F1 legend Michael Schumacher’s 22-year-old son Mick with Haas F1 straight after his stunning F2 championship win last year, the affable Aussie Daniel Ricciardo and his move to McLaren, Team Red Bull and its exciting new pairing of the scintillatingly quick Max Verstappen and the wily Sergio Perez; all of these are just a few of many potential narratives worth paying attention to in 2021. And Formula 1: Drive to Survive does well to get you in the mood for Race Day.
Formula 1: Drive to Survive is streaming on Netflix. Watch the trailer here —
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