After the first season opened all eyes to the back door drama of the Formula 1 paddock Drive to Survive, the third season is over! It’s just as exciting, but missed a few moments that deserve at least a mention.
Netflix’s Formula 1 Drive to Survive, Seasons 1 and 2, gave us unprecedented access behind the scenes. We waited eagerly for the third iteration, which would deal with the pandemic-affected, shortened championship season 2020 for F1. It’s finally here, and as before, F1: Drive to Survive season three shipped exactly as expected. If you haven’t seen it yet and are concerned about “spoilers”, we already know what basically happened during the season. We may have more information about the championship than Drive to Survive would reveal. So what we’re talking about may not really be spoilers, but we’re going to try not to ruin the experience either.
The dramatization of the behind-the-scenes events and reactions throughout the series has been very entertaining. Some may not like the fact that the series didn’t follow a chronological path of the plot that Drive to Survive chose. Even so, the storytelling was great and easy to follow. However, as a well-informed devotee of the sport, I’m not sure that a normal viewer can easily get the entire picture in full.
Season 3, of course, started with the drama that emerged from pre-season testing. Starting with Racing Points Auto reveal and hit the racetrack like a supermodel and all eyes will follow her. It was more for controversial reasons for the so-called “Pink Mercedes”. This was followed by the ingenious DAS steering system from Mercedes, which gave them a clear advantage over the course of the season and won the championship.
It was also very interesting to see what was going on behind the scenes and real people’s opinions just before the Australian Grand Prix was canceled. After a few reported cases of coronavirus in the paddock, Liberty Media canceled the race and we all know what followed.
Two of the truest and most heartwarming moments of the season gave us two feel-good episodes. One with Pierre Gasly’s Red Bull downgrade last year to his triumphant and fruitful win at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza in 2020 for AlphaTauri. The second is the story where Sergio Perez, despite his loyalty from Racing Point, was sacked and then won the Sakhir Grand Prix after setting off from behind. Of course, whoever removed Alex Albon from Red Bull and took his place for the 2021 season. Alex Albon may want to avoid seeing Season 3 himself being questioned on the show.
Ferrari’s 2020 problems with the departure of four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, Valtteri Bottas’ rivalry with Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes and the mental battle against his critics have been well treated in the series. However, the battle for third place in the championship between Racing Point, McLaren and Renault was the biggest talking point. Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz and Daniel Ricciardo naturally play an important role in the show alongside Perez and Lance Stroll.
The first season rock star and Haas F1 team boss Gunther Steiner got decent airtime as always. The reasons behind Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen’s exit from the sport and the Haas team were covered to make way for two rookie drivers – Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin, who will join the team in 2021.
It was great that the show also touched on the rivalry between Haas and the similarly equipped but in shape Alfa Romeo F1 team and its drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi. Raikkonen fans will appreciate that he finally got involved with the series in his own peculiar and honest, if small, way. Of course, it was comedy gold as always, but its stormy start in Portugal could have been integrated, I think. The last episode touched on the somber remark about Lewis Hamilton’s fight against racism and the use of his platform to bring about change.
However, there were a few things that we thought could have been portrayed better, and some moments of the season at least deserved a mention. For example, George Russell, who drove for Mercedes at the Sakhir Grand Prix to prove his power, was almost completely overlooked. In fact, Russell appeared to have been more or less excluded from season three, save for a couple of mentions that he had replaced Hamilton and Mercedes pit stop mistakes.
Nico Hulkenberg’s appearance with Racing Point as a replacement for Covid hit Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll, and his performance at Silverstone and the Nürburgring was not even mentioned. In fact, the Hulk only appears temporarily as a poster in the background once.
And finally, everyone will likely tune in for a moment to watch. The terrible fireball that brought down Romain Grosjean at the Bahrain Grand Prix. The whole catastrophic incident, which lasted a few moments in real life, was prolonged way too long for dramatization in my opinion. It felt like an eternity for Grosjean to leave the fireball and it could have been handled more respectfully. But it was great to see him well and find humor in the darkest of times when he talked about it in interviews with his wife on the show.
Needless to say, Drive to Survive season 3 can be a mix of emotions. But also the 2020 Formula 1 season. The worst thing about the series, however, is that we now have to wait for another year to reach Season 4. However, the 2021 Formula 1 season will finally start from March 26th to 28th, when we really find out if Mercedes is really on its backfoot and Red Bull finally has a car that is strong enough to give them the chance to fight against the power of Mercedes.
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The post F1 Drive to Survive Season 3 Recap: Mixed Bag, But You Can’t Miss Netflix first appeared on monter-une-startup.
