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The fourth installment of Netflix’s hit series Drive To Survive airs this week (March 11) as fans wait to see how the Silverstone, Monza, Jeddah and Abu Dhabi controversy will be handled. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has described the level of access Netflix gets from Formula 1 to the television series Drive To Survive be recorded as “scary,” adding, “They put together scenes that didn’t happen.” The show has become a hit on the streaming platform and is a success for the sport by introducing F1 to a fresher, younger and more international audience. He has notably performed in the United States, which will now host an additional Grand Prix (Miami) this season as interest in the sport soars. For the show’s unwitting stars, including Wolff, Drive To Survive put them on camera in ways they never could have imagined. And this week, the entire fourth series will go live (March 11) as the sport prepares to resume racing in Bahrain (March 20).
Toto Wolf
Wolff: They create a story
“It’s scary how much we let them in,” Wolff told Bloomberg. You hate to see yourself in there. The documentary series has been criticized in the past for creating fake drama, with world champion Max Verstappen telling The Associated Press that the filmmakers would “fake a lot of things”. Toto Wolf says he accepted the show has done more good than harm for Formula 1, allowing new fans to introduce themselves to the sport’s biggest stars. “They put a spin on the story. They put together scenes that didn’t happen. I think as an insider you’d be like, ‘Well, that’s different than it was. “. But we’re creating entertainment, and that’s a new dimension of entertainment,” he said. Bernie Ecclestone said, “I’m not interested in 15-35 [-jarigen] because they don’t buy Rolexes from my sponsor! But that obviously has changed, because with social media, it’s the demographics that drive the audience, it’s the reach, and they’re the future decision makers.”
Netflix helped F1 break through in the US
“Formula 1 has always been a global sport from our perspective. Big in Europe, big in South America, big in Asia and the Middle East,” says Wolff. “In a way, we never approached or excited the American public. My theory at the time was that it takes a long time for a sports league to take hold in a country. Wolff continued: “Formula 1 is a niche sport. It’s high-tech, it’s for high-income people with high-level education. I thought it should be easier to attract audiences in big cities, like New York. But we never really got there.
“Then Liberty took over, but the needle didn’t really move. And then Netflix came along, and Covid came along and people started watching. And then we got now all of a sudden this huge momentum in the United States that no one expected.”
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