Drive to Survive, Bild attacks: “Artfully created dialogues” | FP

Drive to Survive continues to divide

Formula 1 will open the 2024 season on Saturday in Bahrain, but there is another 'season' that has started in recent days and which – like every year – is generating considerable discussions. The reference obviously is to Netflix series Drive to Survive, now in its sixth edition and published these days on the popular streaming platform. The story focuses on the last year of the Circus, 2023, trying to make the public aware of the life behind the scenes of drivers and teams.

The problem, however, always concerns the veracity or otherwise of certain reconstructions regarding the dialogues between the protagonists and the interpersonal relationships. In fact, very often these are artfully 'adjusted' to give a certain narrative edge to the series, which however does not necessarily correspond to the reality of the facts. The last piece of an episode to end up in the eye of the storm was a dialogue starring Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton, in which the two discuss the performance of the W14 and the British champion's expiring contract.

Criticism and defense

The German newspaper Bild claimed that this scene was totally created ad hoc: “The actual negotiation never happened that way. It was shot specifically for Netflix.”, declared the important German newspaper. However, the other driver of the Brackley team spoke out in defense of Drive to Survive, George Russell.

According to English in fact the benefits of this series for F1 are greater than the disadvantages: “We have seen how the sport has changed for the better over the years – declared #63 right at Bild – how interaction with fans has increased, how new people have come into the sport. People are annoyed by the fact that everything is dramatized, but ultimately, as in any documentary, you want to best illuminate your sport and its history. As long as it has a positive impact on Formula 1, I don't think there will be any problems.”he concluded.