Started in 2023, the F1 Academy is developing well as a platform for young women racers to make progress in their racing careers. While there has been a push for females to flourish in motorsport for some time now, the Susie Wolff-led series is paving the way for young girls to get the spotlight. A Netflix Drive to Survive-like docu-series on the F1 Academy is going to help further Wolff and Co. break the gender barriers in motorsport.
Speaking on the Red Flags podcast in a segment with Guenther Steiner, Wolff shed light on the same. She said, “It’s really important that we show to the outside world what the possibilities are in the sport.” She added,
“That’s where our Netflix show which is being produced by Hello Sunshine is so important just to break down this preconception that its such a male-dominated industry and it is changing“.
We have some HUGE news…
We are thrilled to announce that the F1 Academy docuseries will launch on the world’s leading entertainment service, @NetflixUK, in 2025!
Produced by @ReeseW‘s @hellosunshine, she said “as these dynamic and fearless drivers break barriers behind the… pic.twitter.com/TN95LUKYyI
— F1 Academy (@f1academy) May 3, 2024
Wolff discussed the support of all 10 F1 teams and how each team is supporting one F1 Academy driver. This has been a big boost to the F1-backed series as the now-defunct W-Series was mainly a standalone racing series with several financial issues.
The F1 Academy has steered clear of any such complexities and taken small steps at a time to grow its popularity on the sporting as well as the marketing front. The Drive to Survive (DTS)-like Netflix show will further help it gain popularity among the fans.
F1 Academy Netflix show to follow the DTS theme
Just like DTS, the F1 Academy show on Netflix will involve the female drivers talking and sitting in the chair as the showmakers intercut scenes with the coverage of the season and add some dramatic elements to it. There will be a lot of personal elements to each of the drivers’ stories as in DTS with insight into their off-track lives.
One of the F1 Academy drivers, Lia Block, recently shared her experience of being filmed by the Netflix crew at her place for three days for the series. On the Fast and the Curious podcast, Block said, “That’s so weird to say like yeah, I’m filming with Netflix today, like what? That doesn’t make any sense, this is going to be on Netflix, no way.”
It took her a while to get accustomed to being filmed. “It was a little crazy”, she said.
