F1 Drive to Survive Season 6: Netflix trailer, 2024 release date, and preview
Drive to Survive
- Last updated: February 22nd 2024
Season 6 of Formula 1 documentary Drive to Survive is released this Friday, and the reviews are now in. Here's the latest news on the 2024 edition of the Netflix series, including the big storylines
F1 finds itself under Netflix's watchful gaze once more
This Friday is the day that Netflix releases the 2024 series of Drive to Survive, the F1 docudrama that’s now in its sixth season. All episodes are due to be made available on February 23, the final day of pre-season testing and one week ahead of the new season opener in Bahrain.
The full trailer gives a taste of the latest stories, with Lewis Hamilton telling team principal Toto Wolff: “You can be here for 20 more years, I can’t” — filmed along with the rest of the series in 2023 before Hamilton announced his future move to Ferrari.
Elsewhere Red Bull boss Christian Horner calls Daniel Ricciardo to offer him Nyck de Vries‘s AlphaTauri seat; Pierre Gasly says, “There are tensions, we’ll never be best friends,” over footage of himself and Alpine team-mate Esteban Ocon crashing; and Lando Norris has nothing nice to say about the new McLaren at the start of the year. “This is quicker than our new car, this,” he says while driving a golf cart.” Later, he adds: “I might just walk into Red Bull and steal their car”.
Guenther Steiner is unsurprisingly back in sweary form: “We look like f***ing idiots out there,” says the Haas team principal who was pushed out earlier this year.
There are several shots from Ferrari, while the teaser trailer, released earlier also features Lance Stroll, who began the 2023 season with two broken wrists after a cycling accident.
True to form, the latest instalment of the smash hit Drive to Survive series, which has played a key role in the expansion of F1 in the US, will aim to follow the more dramatic storylines of the 2023 season, with its behind-the-garage door access to the teams and drivers, leaving the story of the championship itself — mostly a barrage of repetitive results due to the overwhelming dominance of Max Verstappen and Red Bull‘s RB19 — to the F1 highlights packages.
When is Drive to Survive Season 6 released? What time?
Drive to Survive Season 6 will come out on Friday 23 February, with all the episodes likely to be available just after 8am.
Similarly to last year, the series will drop during F1’s pre-season testing so fans will be able to switch between the live coverage from Sakhir and the the world championship’s latest Netflix portrayal.
How is Drive to Survive made?
Embedded within the teams themselves, Netflix crews are often able to get closer to the action than anyone else, giving viewers an immersive feel of what it’s like to be at motor sport’s top echelon. Filming takes place at each race, where the focus is typically on one of the teams.
Teams and DtS production company Box to Box Films agree in advance where camera crews will be embedded for each race weekend, and also discuss what storylines they are likely to follow. Key figures wear radio microphones during the weekend, and the crew can also be seen with overhead boom mics, capturing footage elsewhere.
Teams then get first viewing on material which involves them, in case they might want to seriously oppose any of it being used. While the approach does offer unique and otherwise unseen insights, it does leave viewers wondering how much was not filmed or unused.
Who is filming Drive to Survive Season 6?
Box to Box Films is the company behind Drive to Survive, headed by executive producer Paul Martin.
Having produced successful films on Ayrton Senna, Diego Maradona and Amy Winehouse, the production company has also released DtS‘s tennis equivalent Break Point and its golf accompaniment Full Swing.
The series follows a similar production aesthetic to those above, while sticking and choosing what to include to better each episodes narrative — for better and for worse.
Will Max Verstappen be in Drive to Survive Season 6?
Max Verstappen will feature in DtS’s sixth season after a continued agreement with producers which ensures that the show maintains a “realistic image” of who the Dutchman really is. The reigning world champion was unhappy about how he was portrayed in season three of the series, so decided not to participate in season four. But after a meeting with producers, Verstappen will seemingly be included for the foreseeable future.
“I understand in general that when you create a show there needs to be drama and it needs to be exciting,” he said. “But I’m a guy who thinks it’s also important that you are portrayed well, and not start to have comments put under different footage, when it didn’t happen like that.”
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner supported his driver, but also understood what Netflix and F1 are trying to achieve. “Of course they’re making a TV show, so they’ll create a narrative,” he told the Financial Times. “They’ll portray you sometimes as the baddie, sometimes you’re the hero, sometimes you’re both in one episode. But the effect that it’s had on the sport has just been insane.”
What iscould be in Drive to Survive Season 6?
The 2023 F1 season certainly gave producers a few options to choose from. From on-track drama in Singapore, to off-track arguments at Alpine, here are some of the events in DtS season six:
Ricciardo’s return
He’s back: Ricciardo returns to the grid in Hungary
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AlphaTauri proved to be centre of all driver changes in 2023, as the Red Bull sister team featured three different driver pairings in just 22 rounds of racing. But the return of Daniel Ricciardo, who replaced the underperforming Nyck de Vries, is the story that Netflix focuses on.
Ricciardo spent most of 2023 on the sidelines as Red Bull’s third driver, but got an opportunity to prove his talent behind the wheel of the RB19 during a Pirelli tyre test at Silverstone. Speaking on F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast, the eight-time grand prix winner details the moment he convinced Christian Horner and Helmut Marko that he was F1-ready, by completing a hot lap that rivalled Verstappen’s pole time for the British Grand Prix. “It was right on the money,” he said.
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That’s confirmed by footage from the trailer, showing Horner saying: “That lap he just did would have put him next to Max on the grid.” In a separate clip, he’s shown on the phone, saying: “Hey Daniel… something I want to put to you.”
Rumour has it De Vries was sacked just moments after Ricciardo crossed the finish line. This episode is practically wrote itself…
The Aussie has proven to be a favourite among many DtS watchers and even some producers who suggested the show “wouldn’t have existed without him”. His journey back to the grid after being ousted by McLaren in 2022 should hit the docudrama nail on the head and a broken hand at Zandvoort, which ruled him out for five races added a twist to the tale — before Ricciardo came back to finish seventh in Mexico City — not bad given his car. Ricciardo truly is the DtS gift that keeps on giving.
Australian Grand Prix drama
Late restart saw frantic first-corner action
Qian Jun/MB Media/Getty Images
After two rather tedious grands prix in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, the 2023 F1 season exploded into life in Australia. A late red flag restart — caused by Kevin Magnussen‘s three-wheeled Haas — brought chaos, as Carlos Sainz received a five second penalty after tangling with Fernando Alonso at Turn 1 and the Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon both crashed in spectacular fashion just a few hundred metres later.
That latter incident is predictably of particular interest to Netflix, as it sparked a series of bad results which would effectively end in the dismissal of Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer alongside two other key members of staff at Spa. Pair that with heated on-track moments between Gasly and Ocon — first in Melbourne and then Japan when Gasly was asked to swap places with his team-mate at the final corner — and the Enstone marque quickly stands out as the F1 grid’s epicentre for drama.
The trailer shows Gasly talking about the tension between himself and Ocon, while Szafnauer is seen being asked whether he’s best out of the team given the chaos within.
Aston Martin’s performance conundrum
The Aston Martin duo weren’t closely matched in 2023…will Netflix take notice?
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Aston Martin began the 2023 season standing in the spotlight. Having aced its pre-season development and testing, the team frequently found itself the second-quickest car on the grid next to Red Bull’s RB19 and, in the experienced hands of Fernando Alonso, the podium finishes began to flow: the Spaniard scoring six top three finishes in the first eight races of the season.
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But if a resurgent 42-year-old podium sitter isn’t enough of a story, Netflix also chose to point their cameras toward Lance Stroll — a driver who struggled to keep pace with his illustrious team-mate all season long and caused his frustrations to eventually boil over.
After a particularly poor qualifying session in Qatar — in which the Canadian qualified 13-places behind Alonso who sat on the second row of the grid — Stroll returned to his garage, threw his very expensive steering wheel out the cockpit and then shoved his personal trainer on his way to the cool-down room. It was a point of outrage for many and a recognisable flash point over a season of underperformance.
Lando Norris at McLaren
Oscar Piastri was F1’s Rookie of the Year in 2023 — a title he earned convincingly after a string of stunning performances at the wheel of a gradually improving McLaren.
But it’s his McLaren team-mate that Drive to Survive follows in Season Six, as contract renewal discussions begin amid a disastrous start to the season. In a car that lacks pace, Norris becomes ever-more frustrated, and there’s a real sense that he’s contemplating a move away from the team, until a sudden resurgence after a series of upgrades catapults the team to the front of the midfield.
Sainz’s Singapore win
Singapore gave a second F1 race win for Sainz – and a whole lot of action for Netflix to capture!
DPPI
Ferrari was far from being a title-contender in 2023, but Carlos Sainz did prevent Red Bull from making a significant piece of F1 history. The Spaniard’s win in Singapore was the only grand prix Red Bull didn’t win this season, as it uncharacteristically struggled for pace all weekend — eventually finishing a distant fifth and eighth.
Season 6 covers this in its Ferrari episode, looking at the hiring of new team principal Frédéric Vasseur, team-mate squabbles at Monza, and then finally the Singapore win.
Las Vegas controversy
Sainz’s damaged car was one of many controversial moments over the Las Vegas GP weekend
Chris Graythen/Getty Images
Netflix works so closely with F1, that we’re were always unlikely to see a great deal of criticism about the series’ return to Las Vegas.
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From a track layout that was criticised ahead of the weekend, and a drain disaster during the weekend’s first practice session, which saw fans turfed out, having seen just 10min of cars on track, it was hardly the glorious return F1 was hoping for. Verstappen was often the loudest voice among the naysayers, suggesting the grand prix was “99% show and 1% sporting event” and Sainz soon joined in when he received a penalty after his Ferrari struck a loose drain cover: “That [decision] changed completely my mindset and my opinion on the weekend and how it’s going to go from now on.”
Ferrari’s team boss was equally as frank in a press conference following the crash — calling Sainz’s penalty decision “f****d up” and “unacceptable” — so you can only imagine the Frenchman’s tongue was even looser behind the scenes.
The Scuderia’s weekend was saved by the success of Charles Leclerc, who took pole position and second place in the grand prix after a pass on Sergio Perez at the penultimate corner; Verstappen was coerced into describing the event as a success; and the final verdict on the circuit was generally positive. It should have been a narrative arc that Netflix can’t ignore: F1 recovering from a nightmare start to shine under the fireworks at the finish line, but predictably, the episode focusing on the race is one of relentless positivity.
