Formula 1 has a moment

‘Drive to Survive’ sparked a mania for F1 in the US

Do you remember the Sex and the City episode, when Carrie met a particularly charming Englishman in a bar and he gave her a DVD entitled “Jox & Cocks 4”?

“Would I be able to enjoy this now if I missed Jox & Cocks 1, 2 and 3?” She asks.

That’s what I asked myself while watching season 3 of the Netflix franchise Formula 1: Drive to Survive. Did you know that there were already two seasons? Neither do I. But if you’re wondering why everyone from your dad to your doctor is suddenly obsessed with Formula 1, you probably missed season three when the show got paid for and turned legions of laypeople into Formula 1 fans, even here in America.

That makes sense because you don’t have to have a clue about racing to see this 10-episode spectacle. All you really need is the universal appreciation for attractive men with charming accents and a penchant for laconic malaprops. (That is, if the F-word regularly offends you – that’s “Fuck”, not “Formula” – this may not be the show for you.) In fact, the racers in the States have won so much that the Multi Billion dollar organization plans to add a Grand Prix in Miami in May, making the US the only country to host two races in one season.

Formula 1 has “a moment,” says Magnus Greaves, a Canadian who published RACEWKND, a glossy magazine for F1 fans, last year. The sport, in which no American drivers are currently represented, is set to “explode” here from the Austin Grand Prix on October 24th.

Original fans may resent the legions of younger, shinier Netflix subscribers who are expected to show up at the races, but change is inevitable. Speaking of a fashionable group of college-aged sisters in Park City, Utah that we know, Greaves said, “The ones who will absolutely be in Miami whether they have tickets or not.”

Long-time fans know, of course, that Formula 1, with its strict regulations and the need for speed, has been producing its own drama since its inaugural season in 1950. But fast forward 70 years, take 20 drivers from 10 teams competing in 17 races, and you have the recipe for a finished Netflix show with near universal appeal.

“Formula 1 racing is very similar to war planning,” says Toto Wolff, CEO of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team, the standard that all other teams strive for.

Race against the pandemic

Unfortunately, against the backdrop of this fictional drama, there is a real one: the COVID-19 pandemic. Episode 1 catches the cheeky Australian Daniel Ricciardo, then a Renault driver, on his cellphone in the back seat of a car that drives to the Barcelona circuit for pre-season tests. “Mom, it’s cool,” he says. “If you drink Corona, it seems that it strengthens your immune system.”

At the show, which follows the Formula 1 pandemic season 2020, the racing drivers wear masks as well as racing suits, helmets and full visors, which of course leaves a lot to the imagination.

Unfortunately for a couple of episodes it’s just zoom conferences and elbow bumps. So allow me to save about four hours of your time and advise you to move on to episode seven or eight because of the vicious rivalries, near-fatal fires, surprising excitement, and finally champagne showers.

“It’s just this wild desire to drive the cars to the limit, and nothing will change that,” says Wolff.

Everyone came to win.

The show follows the trials of Lawrence Stroll, the multi-billion dollar team owner of the Racing Point F1 team. “I’ve always won in the deals I ran,” he says in a voice-over worthy of Real Housewives. “I plan to win here.” His son Lance, who has been going karting since he was 6, is one of the team’s two drivers. But how far can you go with a billion dollars and a go-kart?

Then there is the extremely charming paddock bromance between the McLaren drivers Lando Norris, a British, and the Spaniard Carlos Sainz. However, Sainz has signed a deal to join Ferrari for the 2021 season, which means the couple will suffer for an entire season as they know their ways will part ways. It was “a real bromance that is very rare in Formula 1,” says Will Buxton, Formula 1 commentator, but “yes, the gloves are off between the two.” From idiosyncratic tires to inexplicable mechanical failures, poor Sainz doesn’t seem to be taking a break. “It’s a game where you want to make the most of other people’s misfortunes,” says Norris, “but also recognize that something can happen to you at any time.”

Episode 9 sees fatal touch at the Bahrain Grand Prix when Romain Grosjean, a Haas F1 team driver, plows into a barrier at about 137 mph. A silence spreads across the paddock as the car splits in two and then reassembles as a ball of fire.

As if by a strange miracle, Grosjean is getting out of the car when the machine explodes. Then he insists on going to the ambulance to show that he is okay. Fully conscious, with only minor burns to his hands and feet, Grosjean is quickly forgotten and the race begins again, the drivers sink into their cockpits as if nothing had happened.

“You have to divide it up somehow,” says Hamilton. You just make a decision: ‘I’ll move on’ and you move on. “

Grosjean later tells of his perfectly logical inner monologue: “Uh, why is it orange? It’s not a sunset. Is it the light from the circuit? No. Oh, it’s fire. “

At the end of the episode, 34-year-old Grosjean decides to retire – “If you have a second chance in life, just take it. I didn’t win a race, I didn’t win the championship, but I’ll have a legacy in Formula 1 forever.

In episode 10, Lewis has recovered and is ready for the final race of the season, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Nine teams hope that he will fail.

“If you want to take on a team like Mercedes, you have to fire from all cylinders,” says Christian Horner, head of the Red Bull Racing Team. I don’t want to reveal the end or so, but Red Bull’s long-suffering Max Verstappen finally takes a break and wins.

Horner, who is married to Geri Halliwell (herself Ginger Spice), is only too happy to knock Mercedes over. “That can be done,” he says with satisfaction from the off. “We just have to do it over 23 races and not over one race.”

Like Carrie Bradshaw, I couldn’t help but wonder: Could there be another hit Netflix season on the horizon? And that is available from today.