As we reported earlier this month Netflix Drive to Survive will premiere on 11 March, depicting all the drama and more from an incredible 2021 Formula 1 World Championship season fought to the bitter end between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.
F1 confirmed today in a press release: “Formula 1 and Netflix can today confirm that the highly anticipated series, Formula 1: Drive to Survive will launch with another ten episodes on March 11, a week before the 2022 season gets underway in Bahrain.
“Offering unprecedented access, Season 4 will once again take fans behind the scenes, to witness first-hand
how the drivers and teams prepare to battle it out for victory in one of the sport’s most dramatic seasons to
date.
“Get ready to delve into fierce team rivalries, unexpected podiums, and the intense title battle between
Mercedes and Red Bull as the pressure reached an all-time high both on and off the grid.
Formula 1: Drive to Survive is executive-produced by Academy-Award winner James Gay-Rees (Amy, Senna)
and Paul Martin (Diego Maradona) for Box to Box Films.
While most F1 drivers have bought into the Netflix ‘fly-on-the-wall’ documentaries, 2021 F1 World Champion, Verstappen is not impressed and pulled out of the personal interview material accusing the popular series of faking rivalries and tensions which simply were not true or blown out of proportion.
World Champion Verstappen not keen on the “fake rivalries” depicted in Drive to Survive
It will be interesting to see how they deal with Verstappen’s silence, limiting his soundbites to what they have in the can from each race weekend, but not the in-depth stuff that tends to captivate audiences.
It is not known if Hamilton collaborated or not with the making of the fourth season.
Beyond the Max vs Lewis show, other subplots on season four are expected to include:
- Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari awakening and the pressure on Charles Leclerc;
- The return of Lawrence Stroll’s Aston Martin to F1 with Sebastian Vettel leading the project;
- Daniel Ricciardo returned McLaren to winning ways with Monza one-two. Lando Norris sure to feature;
- Valtteri Bottas’ and George Russell’s Imola crash and the latter’s promotion to Mercedes;
- Esteban Ocon’s shock win in Hungary after Bottas skittled the field in Turn 1;
- Fernando Alonso’s comeback with Alpine and the famous Hamilton duel in Hungary;
- Sergio Perez coming good for Red Bull with Baku victory;
- Kimi Raikkonen’s final race after two decades in F1;
- Toto Wolff versus Christian Horner;
- And of course, foul mouther Guenther Steiner’s reactions to crash-bills his rookies Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin incurred will be priceless!
When the series began in March 2018, both Mercedes and Ferrari opted not to open their doors to Netflix producers and crews, but the success, particularly in the USA, had them making an about-turn on the matter.
The Guardian report: “Since Mercedes and Ferrari came aboard in 2019, Drive to Survive has been doing what was once thought to be impossible: flipping Americans into Formula 1 fans.