On Friday, a week before the return of Formula 1, Netflix will release season 7 of “Drive to Survive”, which goes behind the scenes of the 2024 season. The drama is set to unfold with the Christian Horner affair, the announcement of Lewis Hamilton‘s transfer from Mercedes to Ferrari, and tensions at Alpine.
The famous Netflix docu-series on the Formula 1 World Championship has never lived up to its name more. Going live this Friday at 07:00 UTC, as F1 resumes in Australia a week later, season 7 of Drive to Survive, on the backstage of the 2024 season, for once did not need to exaggerate. It only had to film a reality more dramatic than ever.
Toto and Fred, Friends and Competitors
First, Ferrari served up the transfer of the century on a platter, even before the start of the season, that of Lewis Hamilton coming from Mercedes, a year before it became effective. “After twelve years together, Lewis tells me he’s going to Ferrari. Seriously?”, Toto Wolff, the boss of the German team, overplays in front of the camera. On the timing of the announcement, Frédéric Vasseur, the boss of Ferrari, admits that everything was calculated: “For us, it was important to start the season with that behind us. It was completely deliberate, very early, and I think it was a good decision.”
Even if it meant embarrassing his friend Wolff for an entire season. “The competition is not just between Toto and Fred… The competition is between two teams, two brands, that comes before any friendship”, the Frenchman frankly admits.
A Juicy Conversation Between Hamilton and Sainz
If these sequences are filmed calmly, facing an interviewer from the docu-series (Lewis Hamilton does not participate this time), others, as usual, are snatched without the main actors of the paddock knowing. Like this juicy conversation between Hamilton and Carlos Sainz Jr, the one whose seat he will take a year later at Ferrari. “Have you talked to Toto?”, the Briton asks the Spaniard in a low voice during a press conference. “No, I haven’t talked to him yet. But I feel that if he was really interested, he would have already called me…” The sequel will prove him right.
“Sainz’s future, whether with Williams, Stake, or Alpine, is naturally one of the season’s stories, made all the more intriguing by the return in June of the iconic and charismatic F1 figure, Flavio Briatore, to the helm of the French team. The flamboyant Italian, seemingly irritated by the cameras at times, knows exactly how to play to them. From behind his tinted glasses in his office, he tells his young driver Jack Doohan (22 years old), “I’m watching you closely.”
Charles Leclerc at the Supermarket
As with every year, DTS also follows the drivers in their private lives, and an entire episode is dedicated to Monegasque Charles Leclerc and his life in the principality, the year he finally wins his home GP. We see the French-speaking driver playing the piano in his apartment to relax before the race, walking his dog at night (and picking up after it), shopping at the local supermarket, and having his hair cut by his mother.
Apart from an afternoon spent on a massive yacht with his friends and his F1 races, Netflix assures us, Leclerc is just like us… The Singapore GP also serves as the backdrop for an episode featuring a group of driver friends (Pierre Gasly, George Russell, Leclerc, Lando Norris, Alexander Albon) filming themselves throughout the weekend.
Sagan Participates in “Dancing with the Stars”
The Turmoil of the Christian Horner Affair
But the light-heartedness disappears when it comes to the Christian Horner affair. It is addressed in the first episode, taking care not to tarnish the Red Bull manager too much, one of the key characters in the series historically, while his assistant accuses him of “inappropriate behavior”. Netflix manages to film and contextualize the tension surrounding this case and the media storm following the email disclosure of sexually explicit messages and photos allegedly sent by Horner to his employee.
Among the reactions captured by the production’s cameras and microphones at the dawn of the first race of the season in Bahrain, one notably comes from Julien Fébreau, the Canal + commentator: “I don’t even know how he can stay until the end of the weekend…” While it’s interesting to observe how the team’s communication tries to control the crisis and how Horner withstands the pressure, it’s surprising that the producers never seek to highlight the voice of the young woman: Fiona Hewitson.
Only a statement from Zak Brown is broadcast. The McLaren boss asserts that the allegations are extremely serious and hopes that Red Bull will be transparent so there is no doubt. This prompts a reaction from Horner, filmed discreetly as he speaks to his communications director after this statement: “Zak is an idiot!” Even the pressure from Jos Verstappen, Max’s father, demanding Horner’s dismissal, is quickly dismissed. Today, Horner’s former assistant is taking him to civil court.
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