Villeuneve: Drive to Survive in my time would damage F1 careers

U.S. streaming service Netflix hit the content jackpot when they launched into the fly-on-the-wall, no-holds-barred Drive to Survive series. Unprecedented Formula 1 exposure through deliberate, emotionally charged, and action-packed episodes that tend to over-dramatise the season past but do offer unprecedented, never-seen-before footage. Riveting more often than not.

But not everyone has been a fan. The first series was boycotted by some of the big teams, but soon all were on board with glee as team bosses also got a fair share of exposure, making the likes of Guenther Steiner (inexplicably) a cult hero.

However, 1997 Formula 1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve, now 53, is grateful his shenanigans were not spotlighted in such a manner and questions if Netflix would even be able to film in the F1 paddocks of the past.

Ahead of the DTS 7 premiere, Villeneuve was asked if he would've been a player in the series had they been filming in the nineties when he became World Champion for Williams.

Canadian motorsport veteran Villeneuve replied: “No, I wouldn’t have been happy to participate in Drive to Survive in my era because we were much freer with our speech back then and it would have been very damaging. Basically a few times some people have tried to have a series like this it was always linked to one driver or another. They tried with me as well and I refused. I didn't want someone on my back from morning to night.

“It wasn't that I think the workload has changed. It's different. We used to race, test, race, test, race, test and there were many more journalists on race weekends than there are now. Much more because you didn't have social media. You didn't have influencers.

“These influencers want to be journalists and their words are probably now viewed more than real journalists which is wrong. It can be very damaging but that's the way it is so there's not many of them. All the real journalists are almost gone.

“So, there's a lot less people in the paddock and the workload on that aspect is a lot easier. Because there would be 200 journalists, and it was just non-stop. For each country, each paper, and radio, and so on and so on. And that's kind of died away.

“You can have Netflix in the paddock because there's more room, there's more space and more time for it," explained Villeneuve, who was also Indycar Champion and F1 Champion, a feat only ever accomplished by Emerson Fittipaldi, Mario Andretti, and Nigel Mansell.