Drive to Survive is the thrusting docudrama which purports to take you behind the scenes of Formula 1, the world’s glamorous, salacious, dog-eat-dog sport.

Except it doesn’t. The Netflix show is essentially a PR exercise, designed to promote and plume the feathers of the grand prix world.

It began as a largely candid view into F1, but teams and drivers are now wise to that, presenting their ‘Netflix PR side’ to the show.

And so, many of its crucial moments get glossed over, the cameras and boom mics looming overhead to actually reveal little-to-nothing.

A camera was fixed on now-ex race director Michael Masi during F1’s Abu Dhabi ’21 atom bomb – not that DtS would tell you much about it, barely mentioning how contentious that event was.

The budget cap caused controversy in 2022 but that story wasn’t really told, and Max Verstappen even withdrew from being interviewed for Season 4 after he accused the film makers of creating “fake story lines” – but he hadn’t said anything interesting in the first place.

Both Season 5 and Season 6 had a lot more race scenes, with less behind-the-scenes footage and interviews featured. While each series has featured a few good episodes, much of the action has become tired and flat.

But DtS could be just so good, if it focused on what was really going on in the land of F1 intrigue. Here are the brilliant storylines that should, but won’t, be in the new Season 7 of Drive to Survive.

Embarrassing Ben Sulayem

As highlighted by Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has dropped so many clangers he could have his own TV show.

From his misguided mission to stop drivers wearing jewellery to stopping drivers making political statements – as well as historical sexist remarks on his own website – the president has managed to stick his oar in in the most unbecoming manner possible.

And he’s been at it again in 2024. An exodus of high profile FIA figures occurred in the midst of their deteriorating relationship with ‘the prez’, with senior steward Tim Mayer removed due to Ben Sulayem not liking the fact the former represented COTA when the circuit got into a dispute over a track invasion after this year’s US GP.

He’s also made moves to consolidate the FIA’s power and make itself less transparent in financial matters, despite F1 drivers recently calling for the opposite.

“None of their business. Sorry. With all respect, I am a driver. I respect the drivers. Let them go and concentrate on what they do best, which is race,” was his message to F1’s most prominent ambassadors.

Shove it, in other words.

The egomaniacal president’s antics would make for great viewing in Drive to Survive, particularly his interactions with F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali and other Liberty bigwigs – and what they thought of it.

It’s unlikely to feature though, sadly.

Horner Controversy

Christian Horner and his Red Bull team found itself in the midst of controversy on the eve of the 2024 season when the parent company investigated the team boss for improper conduct towards another employee, which has since been dismissed.

Rumours flew as to what really happened, while Horner came under intense pressure before things took a bizarre twist when a large number of WhatsApp messages – allegedly from Horner to said employee – were leaked to journalists.

Red Bull’s Helmut Marko was then investigated as the situation only became more contentious – did he leak the messages, onlookers wondered?

Max Verstappen’s father Jos got involved, saying that Horner had to leave as his then-conduct was “tearing the team apart”. Somehow the Milton Keynes kids kept a lid on it and won the first six races of the season.

Horner is actually a pretty good pundit – when not spouting hot air in scenarios concerning himself – so it’s somewhat ironic that there isn’t much chance of his most contentious 2024 moment being covered. His own pithy one-liners would be somewhat amusing if he had to turn them on himself.

Calamitous Audi

The simulator isn’t correlated to real life properly. No one can find the wheel nuts for pitstop practice. Even the coffee machine’s broken.

Audi’s calamitous F1 stumble could be the greatest reality show never made, and a The Office-style episode would be the perfect successor to Haas’s many Guenther Steiner-themed disasters through the years.

The opening bars of Handbags and Gladrags ring out as the camera zooms in on a road sign saying “Hinwil”. The shot then transitions to a close-up of former boss Andreas Seidl’s glum, tired face.

It’s all going wrong at Audi’s long-running-but-yet-to-be-launched F1 project, and poor old Andreas just can’t seem to motivate his staff to get things moving. They don’t even want to listen to the special song he wrote to lift company spirits, helpfully already installed on their computers via the intranet a la that U2 album no one wanted on their phones.

Seeing Seidl bumped aside for the Mattia Binotto would be the perfect emotional, sad Netflix ending. If only…

Ferrari seducing Hamilton

The biggest story of F1 2024 happened before the season even got started. Ferrari announced that Lewis Hamilton would be jettisoning Brackley for sometimes-sunny Maranello, the world championship’s most successful driver joining its most successful team.

Netflix could have have been there at the time of signing, and proper behind-the-scenes shots of the fallout would have been brilliant.

So would the build-up, Hamilton mulling over the idea as he sat in his motorhome, took his dog out so it could go to the toilet, or admired his latest oversized shoe.

We’ll probably just have to make do with a few “dream to drive for Ferrari” platitudes instead.

F1 doing an Andretti u-turn

“I will do everything in my power to see that Michael [Andretti] never enters Formula 1.”

This is what racing legend Mario Andretti accused then-Liberty CEO Greg Maffei of saying about his son Michael’s attempts to get into the world championship.

The ‘Andretti to F1’ saga has run and run since 2021, Michael at one point forlornly going round the Miami GP paddock trying to get team boss signatures to support his entry.

F1 didn’t like the approach, and rebuffed him. Still, his Andretti group opened a UK grand prix base and ploughed on.

And then, almost out of nowhere in mid-2024, it was announced that Michael was leaving the team he’d run for two decades.

This was followed months later by his previously-failed entry suddenly being approved by F1 after all – but as Cadillac, with no mention of the actual Andretti name.

How did it happen? What made F1 budge? How did Michael accept his fate, as the person who had to fall on his sword for the mission to succeed?

A window into this backstairs intrigue would have been fascinating. DtS doesn’t really go in for that though.

Drivers saying what they really think

Turned out George Russell does have a personality, after he ripped into Max Verstappen following their on-track qualifying disagreement in Qatar.

Verstappen himself after Qatar had had a go at Russell, not liking the cut of his ‘Head Boy Prefect’.

The Brit gave it back by essentially saying his Red Bull counterpart can dish it out, but he can’t take it – which is largely true judging by how Verstappen blows up when someone gets in his face or things aren’t going his way.

If drivers actually spoke their mind a bit more in DtS like this, it would be essential viewing.