Is Netflix’s Drive to Survive Scripted or Real?

Over the last few years, F1 has seen immense growth in popularity. The sport struggled to establish itself properly in several countries including the USA once upon a time, but we head into the 2023 season with not one but three races scheduled to take place in America. Netflix’s superhit docuseries Drive to Survive has played a huge role in this popularity surge.

Drive to Survive first aired in 2019, and it features a series of episodes where fans get a glimpse of what it is like to be an F1 driver. The cameras closely follow the drivers and team bosses, to capture their lives on and off the F1 track, and it is something the public found to be very fascinating.

The show was renewed for further seasons because of its popularity, and we have seen four seasons come out till now. Season five of Drive to Survive will release on Netflix on 25th February 2022.

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What does the show feature?

A season of Drive to Survive typically has 10 episodes, which each episode focusing on a particular driver, team, or incident. The cameras follow a particular team or driver during a race weekend, and when the show releases, they are divided accordingly.

Some episodes give fans an insight into the lives of F1 drivers when they aren’t racing. The likes of Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon have had episodes like this dedicated to them.

On the other hand, Drive to Survive’s directors also release episodes that talk about a particular team, for example, Ferrari, or even an important incident like Romain Grosjean’s fireball crash in Bahrain two years ago.

A lot of drivers and figures within F1 have become more popular thanks to the show. Haas’ team boss Guenther Steiner became a fan favorite because of his funny segments recorded on camera.

Is Netflix’s Drive to Survive real or fake?

Despite the show being very popular and bringing in millions of new fans into the sport, there has been a lot of criticism directed towards Drive to Survive. Many fans, pundits and even drivers accused Netflix of adding unnecessary drama to spice up uninteresting incidents.

Drive to Survive is a show that covers real events happening throughout the course of a complete F1 season. They do add elements to spice certain moments up, but overall, what they show on Netflix is completely real and unscripted.

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F1 drivers upset because of Netflix adding fake drama

Netflix trying to showcase fake rivalries has upset many fans over the last few years. When they tried to show animosity between Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris, many fans drew the line and were flabbergasted. This is because Sainz and Norris are extremely close friends off the track.

In fact, Netflix’s habit of adding drama prompted Max Verstappen to opt out of appearing in the fourth season of the show. After getting assurances from the directors that they won’t add something fake, Verstappen revealed that he will return for season five.