The team filming Drive to Survive will join Mercedes for this weekend’s Russian Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton bids to equal the record for most race wins in a Formula 1 career.
A crew from Box to Box Films, which produces the series for Netflix, will be embedded with the world champions at Sochi Autodrom.Hamilton’s win in last week’s Tuscan Grand Prix was the 90th of his career, leaving him one shy of the all-time record of 91, set by Michael Schumacher in 2006.
As was the case in 2019, the Netflix team is only joining Mercedes for a single round of the championship. Last year the presence of their crew coincided with Mercedes’ worst race of the season by far.
Hamilton and team mate Valtteri Bottas both crashed during the German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring, where the team was marking its 125th anniversary. Bottas failed to finish and Hamilton came in a distant ninth.
Mercedes also has a flawless record at Sochi to defend this weekend. The team has never been beaten at the venue since it was added to the calendar in 2014. Four of those six wins were taken by Hamilton, plus one apiece for Bottas and Nico Rosberg.
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2020 F1 season
- Pictures: Wrecked chassis from Grosjean’s Bahrain fireball crash to go on display
- Bottas vs Rosberg: Hamilton’s Mercedes team mates compared after 78 races each
- F1 revenues fell by $877 million in Covid-struck 2020 season
- Hamilton and Mercedes finally announce new deal for 2021 season
- F1 audience figures “strong” in 2020 despite dip in television viewers
Bennemar
21st September 2020, 19:17
So guys, how is Mercedes going to mess up in Russia 😂
Ajay (@paiajay)
21st September 2020, 20:42
having a guest race strategist from ferrari, headed by Mattia for this special occasion..
Ajaxn
22nd September 2020, 8:23
I just hope the extra intrusions by the film crew doesn’t put Mercedes off their game. A film crew show up and sussenly your routine habits and procedures are disrupted to accommodate this new presence. Or the team is showboating for the camera and missing the details.
Anyone remember Ricardo in Monaco? This Netflix crew was there too, probing, asking questions, forcing to reconsider his future in the team, it was after that win that Ricardo decided he’d had enough.
I wonder who’s skin they’ll get under next? At the end of the day this pseudo documentary is just entertainment dressed up as drama.
bob (@riptide)
21st September 2020, 19:25
Whose bright idea was it to go to Merc to film what is usually a boring race; and a walk in the park for Mercedes, whilst Hamilton attempts to match someone elses win total. Surely the important number; if indeed it has meaning, is win No 92?
Joe Pineapples
21st September 2020, 19:32
+1
Mashiat (@mashiat)
21st September 2020, 19:57
@riptide Precisely. If would have been Mercedes’ home grand prix and the race in which Hamilton could break (or match if he doesn’t win in Russia, unlikely as it may be) Schumacher’s win record. Plus, it is also a return to the track where Lauda, who Netflix spent half an episode on in season 2, suffered his massive accident. Would have lined up a whole lot better. I guess the only hope with Russia is that due to the long run into Turn 1, hopefully Bottas and Hamilton end up alongside each other and take each out. But since Mercedes will choreograph the start, it’ll probably be the most boring episode of the lot.
bosyber (@bosyber)
21st September 2020, 21:19
It might have been planned before the 2nd Monza RED flag though, at which point it seemed like it could have been no.92 (and something to fill an otherwise boring gp?)
Dkor (@dkor)
22nd September 2020, 3:29
Almost certainly. I don’t think you can throw together something like this in a week or two. I assume they had this mapped out quite some time ago.
Jere (@jerejj)
22nd September 2020, 7:15
@bosyber Monza had a single red flag-stoppage, Mugello two.
DonSmee (@david-beau)
21st September 2020, 19:31
The time is nigh. Shields up, men! Onslaught coming from the North!
Green Flag (@greenflag)
21st September 2020, 22:40
Hamilton cares more about winning his 92nd F1 race. Breaking records is much more important than equaling them.
OOliver
21st September 2020, 22:57
When Ferrari started taking poles and winning races, I thought this year Hamilton would find it difficult to win 2 or 3 races. Then Covid appeared and Ferrari had to run their engines with a nose mask. The resultant loss in performance has all but handed Hamilton an easy run to this record.
But I think Hamilton may yet have the most wins for a single engine manufacturer for much longer than the multiple championships and race wins records.
MercedesFIAMGPetronasFan14
22nd September 2020, 12:58
It’s an absolutely beautiful coincidence that as soon as someone threatens to beat Mercedes or even – dare I even suggest such a thing – make things interesting, some “”””non-compliance”””” is found and the FIA slows them down so they don’t pose a threat.
Meanwhile Mercedes having a 4 year head start on the turbo-hybrid engine and being allowed to write the rules is A-OK!
Adam
23rd September 2020, 19:23
So are you saying that ferrari should be allowed to cheat? All the fia did was make sure no team could use more fuel than they were actually allowed too. Oh and you really thought Mercedes the team who dominated last season and won both championships and had the best car by miles would suddenly lose all that performance?
glynh (@glynh)
21st September 2020, 23:51
I think strangely equalling Schumacher is a bigger deal than beating him. He held all the records so to be as good as him is what people will remember rather than how many he’s been beaten by.
Reassuringly expensive
22nd September 2020, 7:23
Unlikely, once Hamilton exceeds Schumacher total then all that will be remembered in time is that he had the most rather than by how many. Nobody remembers equalisation, however exciting it is at the time. Few care when or where Schumacher equalled Prost, do they?
If Hamilton significantly exceeds Schumacher, say by breaking the ton and maybe taking eight WDC then I suspect that even Schumacher will be a footnote, or a trivia answer.
Rott
22nd September 2020, 0:28
Bottas is very strong in Russia, this is an noting distraction.
Fingers crossed that this doesn’t become another fake show like Monza.
Broke84 (@broke84)
22nd September 2020, 7:09
A shame that Schumachers record will likely be equaled at the worst circuit that exists.
Jere (@jerejj)
22nd September 2020, 7:16
@broke84 I find Circuit de Catalunya worse than Sochi Autodrom to give an example.
Alec Glen (@alec-glen)
22nd September 2020, 11:48
Most people can name a challenging corner at Catalunya, can you name one at Sochi?
Bernie getting to rub shoulders with Vlad was great like and put the Valencia comparison to rest but what else has happened there?
John
22nd September 2020, 12:21
A shame that Schumacher’s record will be equalled by someone who simply doesn’t deserve it!
Gigantor (@kbdavies)
22nd September 2020, 14:37
@John – we better get you in the car then!
Broke84 (@broke84)
22nd September 2020, 15:28
I guess that’s a matter of opinion. Both men worked extremely hard to achieve what they have. I never liked Schumacher back then and some don’t like Hamilton. Both are legends of the sport, the rest is just bla bla bla.
Pironi the Provocateur (@pironitheprovocateur)
22nd September 2020, 10:59
I hope Netflix comes with a better structuring of the whole season, more interesting ways of narration instead of fragmentary creation of artificial rivalries etc. 2019 was a real letdown compared to the first season, they relied on repeated formulas too much and struggled to create a cohesive content that would outline the whole season properly. Kind of understandable since they agree with teams on their presence in the paddock in advance, but the 2nd season really lacked direction of the story. Maybe it’s just the fact that the first season felt new and there was less to concentrate on (the absence of Ferrari and Mercedes) – and, moreover, it had the spirit that was harder to recreate a year later (Danny Ric as a solid Australian star in a quick car, Haas on the rise etc.).
F1oSaurus (@)
22nd September 2020, 18:50
@pironitheprovocateur Their 2018 report was great though. I just saw the episode with all the events which make it abundantly clear that Ricciardo needed to leave Red Bull (Horner stating he wants Verstappen to win and them throwing Ricciardo under the bus for Verstappen’s swerving in Baku). Plus Claire Williams saying how she will never let Williams be a B-team and how sad it would be if she was the one presiding over the demise of her fathers team.
Paolo (@paulsteward40)
22nd September 2020, 13:33
The last time they turned up in the Mercedes garage (at Hockenheim, where they were all wearing lederhosen for some anniversary), Mercedes had an absolute strategy howler of a race and completely got it wrong big time. Lewis and Valterri both went off. Let’s hope they are not superstitious, and they keep their lederhosen in the closet. LOL
David Bondo
22nd September 2020, 14:00
It’s all a bit hollow when you have a dominant car for 7 straight seasons.
Schumacher left Benetton after winning two in a row because he wasn’t being challenged enough.
Green Flag (@greenflag)
22nd September 2020, 15:52
David Dumbo – The best cars get the best drivers and the best drivers get the best cars. Always works out that way.
RB13
22nd September 2020, 16:09
And he quit Ferrari and the sport because Alonso was challenging too much. In desperation after parking his car at Monaco no less.
F1oSaurus (@)
22nd September 2020, 18:55
He didn’t have a dominant car for 7 years. 2017 and 2018, Ferrari should have won. 2016 he had a worse car than Rosberg. 2019 should have been extremely close with Ferrari. If they hadn’t thrown Bahrain, Baku, Canada, Austria, Russia, Japan and Mexico down the drain.
Besides, Schumacher was the one with no competition. Bottas is given Hamilton’s telemetry so he can learn and copy what Hamilton is doing (as best as he can). Schumacher’s team mates were not even allowed to see their own telemetry if they happened to be faster than him. Let alone that they could see Schumacher’s. So it was pretty much impossible to beat him already by something like that. And then there is the continues cheating and purposefully ramming off of other cars.
Plus lets not forget the FIArarri debacle (100 million a year bonus and veto, plus countless FIA verdicts to aid Ferrari)
David Bondo
23rd September 2020, 4:14
Mercedes were the quickest car in 2017 and 2018 it’s just that they underperformed early in each season. Vettel had no business being in contention. Credit to Vettel.
Hamilton lost in 2016 because he bottled 7 starts, crashed in Baku qualifying, had a dummy spit in China.
Schumacher didn’t lose qualifying to a teammate for something like four years in a row. Was the class of the field.
Schumacher moved over for Irvine long before Barrichello ever moved over for him, which Schumacher paid Barrichello back for at Indy 2002.
Hamilton still owes Bottas for Russia 2018.
DrG
23rd September 2020, 10:21
I am amazed by your continued ability to just make up any old c&£p in order to further your agenda.
Many knowledgable posters get caught in your trolling and point out your completely inaccurate claims wherever Hamilton or Mercedes are concerned. Only for you to ignore it and move to the next post. Every post. On any topic. All of the time.
Literally every post is like a monotony of inaccuracy and fact bending.
I have one question.
What on earth do you get from it?
I mean how can this constant lying benefit you in anyway at all?
DaveW (@dmw)
22nd September 2020, 14:11
Someone should take the occasion to reiterate Mr. Navalny’s request that the Russian government return the clothing from his flight.