Like the first two episodes, the third and fourth instalments of Drive to Survive Season 7 on Netflix offer inconsistent results when documenting the 2024 Formula 1 campaign.
It was clear from the outset in Episode 1 that Netflix would need to cram a lot of storylines into 10 episodes of Drive to Survive content and that’s why Episode 3 feels like a slight misstep as we spend the entirety of ‘Looking out for Number 1’ charting Mercedes deliberating Lewis Hamilton’s 2025 replacement.
This episode spends time with Toto Wolff flirting with Max Verstappen in an ill-fated attempt to lure the Dutchman, after revealing to his wife Susie that in previous years he’d promised Hamilton not to court his fierce rival. Then we pivot into deliberating whether George Russell has what it takes to be team leader. It’s a narrative that would’ve made sense in 2023, but last year Russell was a resounding success, thoroughly beating Hamilton in qualifying and putting in some of his finest races to date.
A peculiar moment arises whereby the British Grand Prix at Silverstone is implied to be a race Russell lost, despite viewers being shown he retired due to a technical fault. His redemption story comes with his decisive strategy call in Spa-Francorchamps, although the episode conveniently misses out the subsequent disqualification that came as a consequence of Russell’s one-stop strategy. Russell’s dominant performance in Las Vegas would have made a more resounding end to this particular narrative, but a slightly bigger story occurred in Nevada.
Russell earns his stripes as Mercedes team leader, as revealed to him by Wolff in a motorhome chat captured by the Drive to Survive cameras and after a brief introduction, Kimi Antonelli gets the call up to F1. The Italian teenager’s reaction with his parents is the highlight of this episode as it is wrought in genuine emotion.
Motorsport Week appears in ‘Carlos Signs’
Episode 4, the incredibly named ‘Carlos Signs’ takes viewers into much stronger Drive to Survive territory as Carlos Sainz debates his future. Viewers get a chance to peek behind the curtain as Williams Team Principal James Vowles works hard to entice the Sainz camp, with the Netflix mics picking up a series of meetings.
…and then, Motorsport Week’s Barcelona paddock rumour article pointing Sainz towards a Williams signing in Spain gets a feature – hooray.
But alas, we were early to the punch on that rumour and that’s when Drive to Survive introduces the enigmatic figure that is Flavio Britore, swooping into the show like a Bond villain. Briatore could easily become a Drive to Survive favourite as, love him or loathe him, he has character.
Sainz cites Briatore as the reason his move to Williams was delayed, as Alpine became a late player in courting the Spaniard’s signature, and Netflix handled the narrative well.
Again, like the off-track drama in Episode 1, Drive to Survive is at its best when it takes us off the track and the cameras and mics pick things up that the broadcasters can’t.
READ MORE – F1 Drive to Survive Season 7 Review: What we learnt from the first two episodes
