F1 Drive to Survive doses controversy in Season 6

The big question around the latest instalment of Netflix’s F1 docuseries Drive to Survive was how it would inject some drama in one of the most underwhelming seasons in memory? Now in its sixth year, the show which has been credited with turbocharging interest in the sport – especially among a new younger audience – was in danger of becoming as predictable as a Max Verstappen victory when it aired on the eve of the 2024 season.

Not only that, but critics have been circling, complaining that the show has seen a marked decline in compelling storylines. Cynics suggested that it was this lack of genuine drama that led to the show ‘sexing up’ supposed rivalries between drivers in 2022.

The challenge this year was made tougher by the fact that the three biggest stories of the year broke in short succession just weeks after filming had stopped: first came news that the show’s unlikely poster boy Guenther Steiner had been sacked as team principal by Haas. Then there was the biggest transfer in F1 history involving Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari.

More news followed when another mainstay of the show, Red Bull boss Christian Horner, was accused of inappropriate behaviour by a female employee, precipitating a scandal that would engulf the champions.

Any one of these events would have provided a rich seam for the camera crews to follow and production teams to polish. Whether they would have done so is another matter however.

The latest series dodges many of the key events that cast the sport in anything other than a glowing light. There’s no mention of Andretti being rebuffed from F1, or the championship’s on-going turf war with FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.

Neither is there mention of Toto Wolff or his head of F1 Academy wife Susie being accused of a conflict of interest.

Meanwhile the advent of the sparkly, new Las Vegas GP is presented as an unalloyed success story with no mention made of Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari suffering catastrophic damage from a loose drain cover forcing FP1 to be cancelled and pushing FP2 past the curfew time for workers, meaning spectators were ejected from the track. This is now a controversy-free TV show.

The original and much copied formula still holds the attention, but even without the unfortunate timing of off-track drama, questions remain about the future of the show that propelled F1 to a whole new audience. Fans might be hoping for a vintage 2024 season; DtS producers will be too.