Offering behind-the-scenes entry to one of many world’s most restricted championships has achieved wonders for F1’s booming reputation and expanded demographic, so the docuseries made by Field to Field Movies has caught to its weapons for season six, half of which we have now had early entry to.
As soon as once more all 10 episodes are every constructed round one of many essential narrative strands from the 2023 season. With Max Verstappen’s Pink Bull successful all however one race, the makers have needed to search their thrills elsewhere and lean heavier on the off-track drama.
And perhaps that is simply as nicely, as a result of Drive to Survive stays considerably jarring on the subject of on-track storytelling. It lapses into an {old} vice of overlaying out of context soundbites and pit wall reactions onto motion footage, which had appeared much less prevalent in season 5.
Making it sound like race engineers get into their driver’s ear on the frantic run right down to Flip 1 in the beginning is a bit nonsensical, however it’s the place die-hard F1 followers simply have to take a deep breath and keep in mind who this present is aimed toward firstly.
As a substitute, the place DTS actually shines for seasoned motorsports devotees – which you presumably are if you’re studying this – is displaying us contemporary fly-on-the-wall footage, and season six is not any completely different.
Ousted Haas group boss Guenther Steiner stays a star of the present in DTS season six
Photograph by: Netflix
The third episode revolving round McLaren notably stands out with some scrumptious snark, with Pink Bull’s Christian Horner desperate to twist the knife as Zak Brown’s group misfires, including insult to harm by overtly courting Lando Norris.
We get a neat little nugget when McLaren’s blue-chip sponsors worriedly ask Brown what’s going on, adopted by a well-crafted phase of the group’s mid-season resurgence as Norris takes second at dwelling at Silverstone. Whereas Brown does all of the heavy lifting on digital camera there’s curiously barely a point out of Andrea Stella, the group boss who turned the ship round, however maybe each prefer it higher that approach.
DTS has by no means shied away from fan service and it continues that pattern in season six. Unlikely Netflix star Guenther Steiner is again to his charismatic self as Haas’ struggles are nicely documented. Watching younger, feminine F1 followers fawn over assembly the foul-mouthed Italian at his guide signing feels each surreal and meta. Drive to Survive has gone full circle, basking within the man’s reputation it single-handedly created.
Given Steiner has since been changed at Haas, it might have been his final hurrah on the present. However Netflix was handed a lift by its different fan favorite, Daniel Ricciardo, having fun with a yr worthy of a Hollywood script.
He first will get an episode alongside struggling Nyck de Vries, and Field to Field Movies deserves enormous credit score for being on the scene on the Australian’s Silverstone check that satisfied Pink Bull to offer him a second probability at AlphaTauri within the Dutchman’s stead. A sequence of occasions and conferences that we get entry to in truncated kind, together with Ricciardo’s first response to the information he is again within the recreation.
Daniel Ricciardo’s return to F1 is a serious storyline of DTS season six
Photograph by: Netflix
Ricciardo later returns for a second episode round his wrist fracture in Zandvoort, which brings Liam Lawson within the body as his short-term alternative.
Whereas juggernauts Ferrari and McLaren additionally play an enormous half within the second half of the sequence, which we have not had entry to but, the award for greatest drama goes to Alpine’s implosion. The long-time rivalry between Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly is the main target of the fifth episode, however its title Civil Battle would have been rather more apt for the occasions across the departure of Laurent Rossi and Otmar Szafnauer, which spills right into a second (but unseen) Alpine-dominated episode.
Netflix has largely caught to its tried and examined formulation, so when you weren’t a fan earlier than, this season will not change your opinion. However when you’re simply right here for the behind-the-scenes popcorn fodder and may look previous the odd embellishment, then benefit from the trip.
All 10 episodes of Drive to Survive season six can be found on Netflix from Friday 23 February.