While the dust settles on the exciting desert showdown between the seven-time Formula 1 world champion – Sir Lewis Hamilton – and the 24-year-old King of the Grid of Red Bull Racing – Max Verstappen – no matter where you are on the title of The latter are the claims and on the decisions of FIA Race Director Michael Masi during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021 we can all agree: Netflix’s Drive To Survive season 4 will be the bloodiest and most entertaining episode yet.
Formula 1 drive to survive season 4 confirmed
What can we expect from the fourth season of Drive To Survive?
If you thought the third season of Drive To Survive was action-packed as COVID-19 has forced the entire sport to adapt, season 4 is likely to knock your socks off.
Where do we even start? Put aside the headline-grabbing title fight between Mercedes Lewis Hamilton and Red Bulls Max Verstappen for a moment – the closest title fight since 1984, when McLaren’s Niki Lauda secured his third championship title after beating teammate Alain Prost by half a point (72 vs. 71.5) – there were many notable stories in 2021:
… and that’s before we include the small but equally intriguing Alfa Romeo dramas that promoted commercially viable Guanyu Zhou to Formula 1, rather than recently crowned Formula 2 champion, Australia’s very own Oscar Piastri; Alpha Tauris’ Yuki Tsunoda finds his feet as an F1 rookie; Alpine Estaban Ocon, who accidentally recorded his first F1 at the Hungarian Grand Prix; and much more.
CONNECTED: How Fast Is Fatal? A short physics lesson from Max Verstappen’s 51G crash at Silverstone
Now back to Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
There have been numerous clashes over the past nine months. Of course, the top three cases we’re willing to bet good money on having solidly won the Netflix camera team’s attention are:
- Max Verstappen’s breathtaking 51G crash at the British Grand Prix (Silverstone) triggered by contact with Lewis Hamilton
- The sandwich stack of both rides as the Grand Prix of Italy (Monza)
- As well as the “brake test” when Max Verstappen had to surrender his position to Lewis Hamilton at the first Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia (Jeddah).
Then there is F1 policy that has been investigated – which was also abundant in 2021. We are already rubbing our hands in anticipation of the Mercedes and Red Bull team bosses Toto Wolff and Christian Horner, who in their individual interview sections berate each other about certain incidents involving wing contact, etc. Really, only Toto Wolff does everything.
There will be a major gap in Netflix’s coverage, however …
At the end of October, Max Verstappen officially condemned Drive To Survive after branding it as “fake”. Apparently, the current F1 world champion is neither cool with the staged drama, nor is he willing to play a role in portraying non-existent rivalries between drivers.
“I understand this has to be done to increase popularity in America,” Max Verstappen told the Associated Press ahead of the United States Grand Prix; where he managed to overtake Lewis Hamilton for the race win and to maintain another dominance in the leaderboard.
“But from my side as a driver, I don’t like being there. They faked a few rivalries that don’t really exist. So I decided not to be there and after that I didn’t give any more interviews because then you can’t show anything. “
“I’m not exactly a dramatic show guy, I just want facts and real things to happen.”
“We’ll probably be on the Netflix show [rivals]“Added the Dutchman, referring to the tensions between him and Lewis Hamilton – on and off the track – in the midst of their 2021 title fight.
“We ran into each other once while walking, so that’ll probably be inside … The problem is, they’ll always position you how they want, so they’ll try to make you look inconsiderate, whatever.” you say – whatever fits the story of the series. “
“I’m a completely normal guy and grew up in a small town. All of these things, the drama, it’s just not for me. It’s not my world. “
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Granted, there is a considerable track record of using artistic freedoms to improve the overarching story; Trade full accuracy for some screen-worthy emotions. Drive To Survive Season 3, however, went a step too far for many – and the most egregious indiscretions had nothing to do with Max Verstappen:
- There was the clearly staged and incredibly weird moment from Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, who called Sergio Perez to say: “Welcome to Red Bull” – the latter was then without a seat after Racing Point / Aston Martin in Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll for 2021
- There was copying and pasting of old radio recordings about collisions because it made for a more compelling narrative
- And the most terrifying example – classifying the dynamic between then McLaren teammates Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris as a hostile rivalry … even though Sainz and Lando have perhaps the healthiest pseudo father-son relationship in the world
But it seems that the very first Dutch F1 champion des workd will be alone on that front. Everyone from Red Bull Racing teammates Sergio Perez, McLaren’s Lando Norris, Daniel Ricciardo and CEO Zak Brown to Lewis Hamilton himself defended Drive To Survive shortly after its public criticism – citing the overwhelming advantage that Netflix had a wider audience for the sport opens up.
The only person who even remotely supported Verstappen’s stance was Haas F1 team boss Günther Steiner.
“If Max doesn’t want to be there, it’s his decision. I wouldn’t criticize that, ”says Günther Steiner.
“It is free to participate or not and he has chosen not to. So we shouldn’t get bossy. If he does not feel properly represented, it is his right not to participate. “
“Obviously the fans are missing to see Max Verstappen. I think he’s a good driver first and foremost and he’s a character, he’s a personality. But if he doesn’t want to take part, that’s part of his life. “
It will surely be a bloody shame to miss your personal perspective on such a busy year. Although one can say “windsock” with certainty, Christian Horner will plan enough screen time for both of them. And either way, let’s not pretend we don’t tune in in 2022.
CONNECTED: Netflix’s ‘Drive To Survive’ was almost a straight Red Bull series
Has Netflix set a release date for Formula 1: Drive To Survive Season 4?
At the time of this writing, Netflix has not yet announced a release date for Drive To Survive Season 4. But considering how and when the previous seasons were dropped, we have a pretty solid idea of the timeframe.
Drive To Survive Season 1 and Season 3 hit the streaming queues a week before the new Formula 1 campaigns kicked off in their respective years, while Season 2 premiered two weeks before 2020 kick-off – which, as you may recall , was later postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Assuming Netflix doesn’t deviate from what is essentially common practice today, we can reasonably expect season four of Drive To Survive to follow suit, arriving between a week or two before Formula 1 returns for 2022. As a reference, the motorsport elite is currently slated to compete in Sakhir for the Bahrain Grand Prix from March 18-20 (replacing the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne as the usual prelude).
Considering that Netflix has its most popular content available on Fridays, that means you should mark your calendars for either March 4th or March 11th, 2022.
How well.
