Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Shanghai International Circuit, 2019

Ferrari and Mercedes likely to appear in second series of Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” – Bratches

2019 F1 season

Posted on

| Written by and

Ferrari and Mercedes are likely to take part in the second series of Netflix’s fly-on-the-wall Formula 1 documentary “Drive to Survive”, according to the sport’s commercial director.

Sean Bratches told the Sports Decision Makers Summit in Miami he expects a second series of Drive to Survive to go ahead featuring the two championship-leading teams of the previous two seasons, who refused to participate in F1’s Netflix debut which was filmed last year.

He said the Netflix series was part of a drive to increase fan engagement. According to Bratches half of the new audience which has been attracted to the sport are under the age of 35.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said they did not participate in the first series of “Drive to Survive” as it could have been a distraction from their championship campaign, and because title rivals Ferrari also did not take part in it. Lewis Hamilton said last month he had not watched the series and had heard “mixed reviews” of it.

McLaren’s Lando Norris said he has watched the series and hopes it returns for a second instalment.

“I think it would be cool if they did do another,” he said when asked by RaceFans. “Whether I’m in it or not, whatever, I’m not too fussed.

“I enjoyed watching it and therefore I think it would be cool if they did it again. Especially because it’s good for the people who want to see more behind-the-scenes stuff: what a driver goes through or what he does in his life at home or anything like that. Instead of just seeing them driving the car and getting out, disappearing for a bit – driving the car and that’s about it. It’s good to see more of what goes on.”

Bratches also revealed the sport’s over-the-top streaming service F1 TV is most popular in Germany, followed by the USA.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

2019 F1 season

Browse all 2019 F1 season articles

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

16 comments on “Ferrari and Mercedes likely to appear in second series of Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” – Bratches”

  1. Mercedes and Ferrari missing out on the limelight ?

    1. DAllein (@)
      8th May 2019, 10:13

      Free exposure!

  2. “If” Netflix film a new series? Doesn’t Bratches know? He is one of the bosses at FOM.

    As for his claim that “half of the new F1 audience is under 35”. To the best of my knowledge more than half of the world’s population is under 35. How many new viewers bought to the sport by the Sound Bite documentary are going to be disappointed to discover that we don’t get to see or hear any of the events shown by Netflix during the racing season and when we do hear from the ‘stars’ of “Drive to Survive”, they will come across at totally different people, more corporate robot than animated sportsman.

  3. Half under 35 is an interesting stat. I wonder what percentage are under 25? And i cant even imagine there are that many people over 35 with netflix accounts.

    It just doesn’t seem like something to brag about.

    Anyway, I hope if all the teams are involved the producers manage to pull their focus away from retelling the story of the top 3 for more than an episode. For sure it will be good to have them included but part of the charm in the first season was indeed not having the focus on them.

    1. And i cant even imagine there are that many people over 35 with netflix accounts.

      Laughably inaccurate assumption.

      https://www.statista.com/statistics/720723/netflix-members-usa-by-age-group/

      1. DAllein (@)
        8th May 2019, 10:13

        Stupid kids are all the rage now…

        Know nothing ans even don’t care to learn.

    2. DAllein (@)
      8th May 2019, 10:12

      *facepalm*

      Where from do you have such perverted impression of 35-year olds?!?!?

  4. F1 2021: A Netflix Reality Soap Opera – with occasional processional racing to keep the over 35 demographic rocking in their grumpy chairs.

    1. DAllein (@)
      8th May 2019, 10:09

      Sorry “dude”, but your picture of 35-year olds can’t be more wrong.
      Grow up a bit, will you?

  5. I have an American friend who’s just gotten into F1, he’s studying automotive engineering so he’s predisposed, but this series certainly helped I think.

    I think Netflix did a fantastic job of condensing a lot of the intricacies of F1 into 40ish minute episodes, without being condescending (my main issue was the OTT sound effects), while also giving some great behind-the-scenes stuff for us seasoned F1 fans. If they are able to focus more on the title fight it would give them fresh avenues to explore for the second season too.

    1. @george I think the fact that they didn’t have access to the title-contenders meant they couldn’t focus on the title-fight. That said, I actually really enjoyed the focus on the rest of the field. There’s so many interesting battles and politics going on, I don’t think it really missed the top teams. Obviously with the top teams, a more complete picture could be presented – but I hope we still get the depth we saw in the first season.

  6. View from Down Under
    8th May 2019, 3:20

    We see enough racing during the season. What I really enjoyed was more behind the scenes and every team should get a good viewing. Some knew drivers come in each year so need to get to know them a bit better. 2019 has plenty so give them some air time on their struggles and successes in their first season. Plus any team moves in 2019 such as the first seasons focus on Ricciardo. Focus on team and inter-team dynamics and rivalries with even a bit of driver and team down-time.

  7. Episode 2 – Toto: “Ferrari appear to have had better scenes and angles than us so far but we will try to bridge the gap.”

  8. Good, I’m eager to see more of both these TPs behind the scenes.

  9. DAllein (@)
    8th May 2019, 10:06

    Can’t stand this “series” – false premises, hoax drama, fake sounds…

    Won’t even try to watch S2.

  10. Lando impresses me again, wise words from the rookie.

Comments are closed.