Season 8 will not change anybody’s opinion
Lengthy credited for its instrumental function in F1’s mainstream breakthrough in recent times, Field to Field Movies has caught to its standard recipe that made Drive to Survive its most enduring sports activities documentary sequence. Specializing in one key storyline per episode, it stitches collectively the occasions of the 2025 season with an excessive amount of unseen behind-the-scenes footage, interviews with drivers and crew bosses and extra context from speaking heads Will Buxton and Claire Williams.
Drive to Survive is unashamedly geared toward attracting new followers to the game somewhat than placating die-hards, and Season 8 isn’t any completely different. In case you are studying this, likelihood is you belong within the latter class. So, if you happen to weren’t a fan of the earlier iterations, you will not all of a sudden change into one now.
However if you happen to do not thoughts the at-times sticky, narrative sauce poured over the plat de résistance that was the 2025 season, then it’s nonetheless value staying for the unseen footage and behind-the-scenes nuggets and interactions you might have missed. Having mentioned that, Netflix seems to be doing a greater job at preserving occasions and quotes inside context and we have been in a position to spot fewer incongruities in comparison with earlier seasons.
Yuki Tsunoda and Franco Colapinto get loads of display time as a part of F1 2025’s driver merry-go-round
Picture by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Photos by way of Getty Photos
Netflix is lacking Christian Horner already
But when one factor has change into clear, then it is the truth that what has made Drive to Survive such a smash hit is the bitter rivalries, scheming and politicking to rival the likes of Recreation of Thrones and Home of Playing cards. The eighth season cannot conceal how a lot it hinges on pure beef between its protagonists.
As since-ousted Pink Bull crew boss Christian Horner says after he’s booed by the group on the collective F1 75 launch, each story wants a pantomime villain. And purely by way of storylines, after Horner’s mid-season exit, each F1 and Drive to Survive have change into a poorer place because of this.
Horner regretted not with the ability to have a correct goodbye, however he was actually given the send-off befitting each his function in F1 and on Drive to Survive, with the producers visiting him at his ranch to show a secure right into a makeshift interview sales space.
Within the aftermath of his shock post-British Grand Prix sacking, the emotion and bitterness have been nonetheless uncooked as Horner lifted the lid on what had occurred.
“[Max Verstappen’s] father has by no means been my largest fan,” he mentioned. “He’s been outspoken about me. However I don’t consider the Verstappens have been accountable in any means. I feel this was a call made by Oliver Mintzlaff, with Helmut Marko advising from the sideline.”
Horner additionally advised changing Liam Lawson after simply two races by Yuki Tsunoda was all Marko’s doing, which checks out if you know the way little religion Horner had within the Japanese as a Pink Bull Racing driver to start with.
In any case, the sequence falls flat after the Pink Bull-dominated fourth episode, and with fellow juggernauts Toto Wolff, Zak Brown and Fred Vasseur all being so chummy and good to one another, Netflix shall be hoping Horner’s F1 return elsewhere will materialise sooner somewhat than later.
The portrayal of McLaren’s intra-team title combat feels incomplete
Picture by: Zak Mauger / LAT Photos by way of Getty Photos
McLaren’s sanitised title combat leaves so much to be desired
In fact, the opposite large headline of the 2025 season was McLaren’s intra-team title combat between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, which was invaded by Verstappen after the papaya crew dedicated one blunder after one other.
The subject was the principle focus of three of the eight episodes, however weirdly sufficient it nonetheless leaves a number of essential data out. Half one centres round Piastri’s early dominance, Norris’ struggles and his redeeming British Grand Prix win. However then we do not revisit Woking till the ultimate two episodes, which concentrate on McLaren’s errors in Las Vegas and Qatar and the Abu Dhabi title finale. What about Monza’s place swap, which left Piastri livid? What about Baku? What about Singapore and Austin?
None of these key moments between the 2 team-mates/rivals is even talked about. It’s not clear if this was a deliberate selection by the crew, the manufacturing, or a matter of not having the proper microphones hovering over the proper conversations. However whether or not it was a deliberate selection or not, McLaren’s segments really feel means too sanitised. However we do get crew boss Zak Brown, who has now change into a predominant character, mixing and mingling with the wealthy and well-known at a swanky Vegas dinner, so there’s that.
DTS nonetheless does the job it is supposed to do
For Season 8 the makers have lower the sequence down from 10 to eight episodes, hovering between 36 and 51 minutes, a acutely aware determination to concentrate on high quality over amount. However nonetheless, as an entire, it feels a bit sparse.
A meandering first episode does not precisely begin with a bang – until you depend Gabriel Bortoleto farting right into a microphone backstage – and afterward there’s a full episode devoted to Carlos Sainz’s adjustment to Williams, which felt a bit overkill given how mildly attention-grabbing that was.
Criticism apart, Drive to Survive nonetheless largely ticks all of the bins, which is to introduce newcomers into the piranha membership of F1. Alongside the brutal therapy of Lawson and Horner going through the axe, first-time viewers are launched to F1’s different pantomime villain Flavio Briatore and his swift liquidation of Jack Doohan in favour of Franco Colapinto, solely to then give the Argentine a strong bollocking in Italian over his lack of efficiency.
For F1 diehards, nonetheless, Drive to Survive struggles a bit extra to be at its greatest, which is when it tells us stuff we did not already know or see. However when a few of its largest personalities go lacking, the present both dangers turning into too pedestrian or getting accused of stirring up drama artificially, so it may possibly’t win.
Drive to Survive Season 8 is launched on Netflix on Friday 27 February.
Drive to Survive Season 8 – Episode Checklist
Episode 1 – New Children on the TrackEpisode 2 – Strictly BusinessEpisode 3 – The Number one ProblemEpisode 4 – A Bull with No HornsEpisode 5 – The Sky is the LimitEpisode 6 – The DuelEpisode 7 – What Occurs in VegasEpisode 8 – Name Me Chucky
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