‘Drive to Survive’ Netflix season 5 review: A lacklustre narration with glaring blindspots

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc of Monaco leads his teammate Carlos Sainz of Spain and Red Bull driver Sergio Perez of Mexico during the Monaco Formula One Grand Prix, at the Monaco racetrack.
| Photo Credit: AP

“This is not a documentary,” remarks Toto Wolff, the team principal of Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One team in one of the opening sequences — I’d like to borrow his words for this review.

The famous docu-series is back with a fifth instalment after a mediocre on-track and a busy off-track season at the paddock. After the controversial last-lap pass at Abu Dhabi in 2021, the 2022 season began on a fresh note with a regulations overhaul that promised to promote better racing. However, the series fails to dissect the new regulations in-depth to help the audience understand the make of the new car and seems more interested in the upheaval of the power dynamics in the paddock with Ferrari building a championship-contending car and the ever-so-dominant Mercedes getting left behind.

The chronology of the season sticks out like a sore thumb. Drive to Survive continues to follow a non-linear narration structure that is bound to confuse any person unacquainted with the sport and sticks to sensationalising gruesome crashes.

The inadequacy while relaying events surrounding Red Bull’s breach of the cost cap is glaring and the show’s wilful ignorance, towards the feud between teammates Max Verstappen and Sergio ‘Checo’ Perez at the Brazilian Grand Prix, comes across as a timid approach to getting Verstappen to keep them in his good books. Verstappen had earlier been vocal with his criticism of the show and refused to participate in the season 4 of the Netflix original.

Its attempt at deconstructing certain rules seems lackadaisical and futile. Williams, a legacy Formula One team, finds no mention in the show. While the series paid a well-crafted farewell to Daniel Ricciardo who was forced out of the McLaren F1 team, it completely ignored the retirement of Sebastian Vettel barring a minute where it introduced the “silly season” on the back of his retirement video. Vettel, a giant in the sport, left the track for the final time in Abu Dhabi after 15 glorious years — four drivers’ championships, 53 race wins, 57 pole positions and 299 race starts with five teams. Their nonchalance toward his contribution is disrespectful.

However, there are the usual fan favourites who are roped in a rather formulaic way to save this sinking ship — Ricciardo and Guenther Steiner play their parts to the T and leave fans with witty one-liners. The creators of Drive to Survive seem to have learnt their lesson from the reception of their previous four seasons and did not get their hands dirty while trying to manufacture rivalries and misrepresent quotes without context. The show’s footage of the team principals’ meeting which saw Toto Wolff lose his cool, the Oscar Piastri contract drama between Alpine and McLaren and the customary behind-the-scenes sequences make up for certain shortcomings. 

If you are looking to get acquainted with the world of motorsport, it is better to go back to the first season of the show to get your basics right. The punctured narratives and blindspots in the latest season are too glaring to ignore. This begets the question — is the show relevant anymore?

Drive to Survive is currently streaming on Netflix