Netflix’s drive to survival made me an F1 fan: Season 7 is the most confusing ever

Drive To Survive is back in season 7. It’s an absolute catnip for people like me who converted to Formula One fans thanks to The Netflix show. They prepared me for the 4am GMT start Australian Grand Prix this weekend.

I am one of many who have some story context behind the Vroom Vrooming and the figures covered in enigmatic helmets. The truth is, I would not have fallen in love with the sport if I hadn’t had the opportunity to know these handsome boys and their high stakes on and off track conflicts, long-term friendships and rivals. It’s the only reality TV I’ve seen and is better than any melodrama. It may last for a long time.

Last season appears to have been (in so many ways) the most chaotic F1 season in recent history, and we took it by chance from every angle and drove to survive. Looking back, it was even more exciting to see it. I know this is my first year in Silverstone (although it’s a practice day) and I feel as a result of the heartbeat of a Ferrari resident and the IRL smile of Charles Rekrato.

Leclerc is scheduled to compete in heartbeat bets this year for dramatic moves documented earlier in the show’s season. If you missed it – Lewis Hamilton announced that he would say goodbye to eventually move to Mercedes and Ferrari. For those who are not F1 super fans, this means injecting fresh blood into the F1 world this season.

The big news in the Formula One world was a sexual misconduct allegation filed against Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner, where female employees accused him of “control of conduct” and sexual harassment. This caused Horner to be suspended by the team. The drive survives to tackle this top of the season, along with Hamilton’s move, but is dedicated to revelation and subsequent investigations within 20 minutes. Red Bull cleared the Horner of Inappropriate Behavior.

Given that Netflix captured the moment when Horner suspected of leaking his WhatsApp message to all F1 team principals, it could be permissible to imagine the show dedicate more time – not because it’s embarrassing, but because it’s serious.

It’s ultimately a shame to see producers appear to hone their scandal under the rug at the earliest opportunity.

Horner has the opportunity to talk to the camera, but the producers don’t seem to expand their opportunities to talk to female employees to her side. And the scandal will never be mentioned again. The Red Ball Chief gets more screen time than anyone else as the season continues to unfold.

Perhaps fortunate for Horner, this year there is a new candidate for the biggest paddock villain in the form of Flavio Briatore. Italian businessman Briator returned to Formula 15 years later after an early career in sports, which was plagued by allegations of fraud. Now he’s back, and from behind his coloured sunglasses (using an orange frame that appears to reflect the permanent tongue glow) he is determined to play Kingmaker for Team Alpine.

The drama is on track when McLaren finishes Red Bull’s success with the constructor championship.

Norris doesn’t get the most sympathetic portrayal of the season (thanks to his growing reputation as an F1 playboy), but considering his apparent discomfort with the media and some of the more intrusive aspects of his work, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. Despite his two toxic dads – biological father, Papa Joss and F1 father, Papa Christian – fighting heavily throughout the year, I pay tribute to Verstappen, who continued to dominate in orbit.

The best episode of this season is when Netflix calls drivers and offers a mobile phone to compete in the Singapore Grand Prix and record footage of themselves. Lewis Hamilton’s vlogging idea from his bed on the morning of the race feels completely unlikely, but some drivers took the challenges seriously. It’s not just Hamilton’s former Mercedes teammate George Russell (the F1 driver I think is most likely to read, too).

Amidst the chaos, the survival of this season’s drive feels like the end of the era. It appears that Hamilton runs the course, not just because he left Mercedes and Red Bull’s unparalleled success. The cast of the characters featured on the show has a real change in the guard, with charismatic personalities like Daniel Richard and Guntel Steiner (both make brilliant TV) signed off.

It remains to be seen whether the incoming batch of young rookies will be as infinitely entertaining as goofy duo Pierre Guthrie and Yuki Tsnoda did in the early days of F1. Now, at the dawn of the 2025 season, they are probably more concerned about how their performance on the track will be measured. But selfishly, I hope they get the grooves back on track and reveal something of themselves to the camera for season 8. Whether they turned out to be a sociopath, a clown of the class, a unlikely soft boa, or something in between, I’m here for everything about it.