Drive to Survive is one of the most gripping and influential sports docuseries; it provides a behind-the-scenes look at the 10 teams participating in securing the World Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship. Netflix partnered with Formula 1 and production company Box to Box Films to make the show and it premiered its first season in 2019, which showed the 2018 season divided into 10 episodes.
The series is entertaining and helps add a whole new level of appreciation for the drivers who put themselves through so much to win the title. It also adds radio messages and real interviews with drivers and team principals that you might have missed from the race, which helps to improve the immersiveness for the viewers.
For someone who is already a fan of Formula 1, I was happy to see more people showing interest in the sport. Despite the increase in fans, there are some notable things that they do to keep the audience hooked, which might not seem too authentic compared to what actually happened in the race—using radio messages from different situations or moments and stitching them to intense scenes to add controversy, exaggerating driver rivalry to the point that even the drivers didn’t know such a beef existed outside the tracks.
While the show is a great representation of what happens in the sport, it cannot be used as a trustworthy source to base one’s views on the sport. So let’s look at what they do right and what they mess up in hopes of keeping the viewers on the edge of their seats.
Drive to Survive got it right at balancing entertainment with authenticity
While Drive to Survive is a brilliant show to get into the sport, some things the producers do in the name of entertainment take away the authenticity. But here is a hot take—I like Drive to Survive despite accusations of not being completely true to the real events, and let me explain why it’s great for the sport, too.
Firstly, if we have to talk about the show, they do use real footage of the race, the interviews, the cars—everything that’s shown in the series is something that has happened in real life for the creators to capitalize on. Well, seems pretty authentic, right? —Well, it’s a Netflix show, and it is never that simple with them. It needs more drama, more action, and more controversy before they shove it down the viewers, and that’s exactly what happens.
Let’s look at the most highly rated episode of Drive to Survive—the ninth episode of the third season: Man On Fire, the episode that showed Romain Grosjean involved in a horrific accident during the 2020 Bahrain GP; the incident that left the world in shock. While he survived the crash with minor injuries that showed the advancement in the safety of modern cars and the quick response of the medical teams, it was heavily dramatized for the series.
What took 90 seconds was shown like forever in the series. The medical team pulled up in under 50 seconds and started working towards bringing the racer out of the fire, and the whole thing happened in 90 seconds, but in the series, it just kept on going. It felt like he was stuck in the fire forever. This scene had the new viewers hooked to the series, which is clearly visible in the ratings of the episode, but for the fans, it felt disgusting to make this horrific incident into a cash grab.
Another example of creative distortion is the portrayal of driver rivalries, especially the one between the two Red Bull drivers, Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo. Everyone who has even watched a few races of the 2018 season knows that there was tension between the two, and it was only natural due to Verstappen’s need to prove himself and Ricciardo’s willingness to show he still got it. But this rivalry ended on track once they jumped out of the car.
However, according to the series, the rivalry extended beyond the cockpit. The episodes were crafted in such a way that it felt like they were enemies in real life to add tension. These tricks were used to keep the viewers excited, especially the casual fans, a clear example of blurring the lines between fact and fiction.
Over the years, it is pretty clear that they target the casual audience, which often leaves the die-hard fans to criticize the show. And while this takes away the authenticity of the show, it is hugely beneficial to the sport.
Drive to Survive has helped in increasing the viewership of the sport
One thing is clear: you can’t rely on Drive to Survive for factual info, and it’s clearly a money grab by capitalizing on the sport for viewership. But is it really a bad thing? The show has helped gain massive viewership for the sport. According to a report by The Athletic, after the release of the docuseries, there has been a surge in viewership of Formula 1.
ESPN, which holds the broadcasting rights to provide streaming of the sport, declared that the sport was pulling approximately 554,000 fans in its initial year of streaming in 2018. But after the release of the series, it saw a substantial increase in the following years before finally reaching a record-breaking 1.2 million on average for the year 2022.
The show helped to tap into the U.S. market, which the sport was struggling with before the release of the series. And now, it’s celebrated so much that the FIA has added a total of three races to the calendar that will take place in the U.S.: Miami, Las Vegas, and Austin.
So, if you are pi**ed at the show for ruining the authenticity and painting a bad picture of the drivers for rivalries that don’t exist, let’s not be too harsh on them for what they are doing to the sport. After all, you will have more people to talk about the sport who know more drivers than just Lewis Hamilton.
Max Verstappen is candid about his feelings on the docuseries
Max Verstappen is someone who revolves around the principles of no bullsh*t. He is pretty candid with his views on everything happening around the sport. He has often shown this against the FIA when he was fined for cussing on the radio and getting fined, and he continues to show his blunt opinions on the docuseries.
Almost a year ago, when Verstappen gave an interview with The Project alongside Ricciardo, he expressed his disinterest in participating in the show as they always show him in a bad light, making him a villain of the sport. He said:
“You don’t really see a lot of me in Drive to Survive because I don’t like doing it. So yeah, you probably don’t get the right side of me because it’s just an interview. I’m just sitting down in a dark room, and I hate that!”
Similarly, when he spoke to Boomerang TV, he had this to say about the show:
“Certain things are a bit more private, and privacy for me is very important. I like things to be portrayed how they actually are and not with a lot of spice to it.”
The four-time champion has stated that the show, while bringing views for the sport, also creates friction among teams and drivers. While we as fans won’t know for certain what goes on behind the wheels, it is best we take the words of someone as blunt as Verstappen and enjoy the docuseries as just entertainment and not a source to paint a picture of the drivers and teams.
Now with the new season releasing on Friday 7 March, we will get to see if they stuck to typical shooting style or if they tried to make things more authentic.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
