Netflix announced that it has renewed Formula 1: Drive to Survive for two more seasons. The reality series, which offers “unprecedented access” into the world of F1 racing, recently concluded its fourth season.
The series has grown in popularity over time, Netflix said, with the fourth season attracting the biggest audience to date and breaking into the weekly Top 10 in 56 countries. Drive to Survive puts audiences right in the thick of things, as the world’s best drivers compete for the F1 World Championship and their crews duke it out for the Constructor's Championships. But what has really captured the imagination of fans is the behind-the-scenes drama that the series weaves into the narrative. Across episodes and entire seasons, boardroom tensions, pit-lane problems and driver rivalries (sometimes within the same team) represent both the best and worst tendencies of reality TV.
And this is reflected in how the series has been received by fans of the sport, many of whom have questioned the authenticity of the many storylines that Drive to Survive creates. Current World Champion, Max Verstappen, became the first driver to refuse to participate in the show, after claiming that the third season had shown him in a negative light, especially when it came to the dramatic arc about his rivalry with the legendary Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen didn’t appear for on-camera interviews for the show in the fourth season, although footage of him from the races and other events was widely used. Other drivers and team principals, however, have acknowledged the exposure that the show brings not only to them but to the sport in general. Drive to Survive has been credited with introducing F1 to a whole legion of new fans, especially in the U.S, where ratings for race weekends have increased.
Formula 1: Drive to Survive is executive-produced by Academy-Award winner James Gay-Rees (Amy, Senna) and Paul Martin (Diego Maradona) for Box to Box Films. The fifth season is currently in production, in conjunction with the ongoing season of the F1 championships. A similar series, which will document the tennis circuit, is also being produced by the same team. Filming reportedly began at the Australian Open earlier this year. The company has also produced the four-part series The Kings for Showtime. For Apple TV+, Box to Box films produced Make or Break, about the world of pro surfing. They also created Make Us Dream, about the career of soccer player Steven Gerrard, for Amazon Prime Video.
You can watch the trailer for the latest season here, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.