Formula 1 feared Ferrari and Mercedes’ refusal to participate in the original series of Drive to Survive would doom the project to failure.
The Netflix series has been a major hit for F1 and is credited with bringing a new audience to the sport.All 10 teams allow the series’ producers, Box to Box, access to their garages during some race weekends for filming. However when filming first took place in 2018, Ferrari and Mercedes refused to grant them permission. As a result, the series’ storylines tended to focus on other teams.
F1’s director of media rights Ian Holmes admitted they were fearful at the time the absence of the two championship-contending teams would compromise the series.
“In series one, Mercedes and Ferrari didn’t participate and we thought that might be the sort of death knell for the series. Ironically, it was probably one of the things that helped it.”
“It helped demonstrate the nature of the series and the narrative,” Holmes explained. “That it’s not about who won a race or who won the championship and who came second.
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“What it demonstrated was that people were interested in stories about people, stories about organisations, behind the scenes. And as we have since seen in multiple series, since some of the biggest characters that have come out in the series, they’re not at Ferrari and Mercedes. I mean, everyone wants to know about their drivers and things, but this is about human interest.”
Drive to Survive’s producers Box to Box are currently filming the seventh season of the series, which will be broadcast next year. Holmes said their ability to humanise the sport has made it a success.
“Our sport is a complex sport, it’s a technical sport that’s superbly covered, I would say, by Formula 1’s own on-site production covering the racing on the track,” he said. “But it’s difficult to cover that off in a traditional way.
“What Box to Box, who produce it for Netflix, have been successful in doing, is picking out the individual stories, the narratives around drivers in particular – and who knew team principals would become quite so popular – and so on and so forth.”
F1 expects to see a similar boost from its officially-sanctioned film which will debut next year. Holmes predicted it will be “a very, very, very big hit.”
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“It will have a meaningful theatrical release,” he said. “Don’t ask me what exactly means, but it will be in cinemas all over the world, for a relatively modest period of time, but enough. And then we’ll end up on Apple TV.
He predicted the film, called F1, will bring a new audience to the series in the same way Drive to Survive did, due to the star names behind it including Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem, Jerry Bruckheimer and Joseph Kosinski.
“These are big, big names who, just because of who they are and their popularity, are going to bring in a lot of people. And, I’d like to think, another set of people, over and above what Drive to Survive has brought in.
“We’ve been trying to develop a policy of making getting Formula 1 content available in as many different areas as possible through different genres – short form, long form, scripted, unscripted film series, we’re developing a series on travel and cooking, we travel a lot and there’s wonderful food.
“We’re looking at the technology side, which is an area we’ve played in before. We’re looking at some kids, adolescent and younger kids projects. What we want is to seed Formula 1 in an appropriate manner into as many different areas as possible. And the film is another example of that.”
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NM
15th November 2024, 12:52
I sure believe they make more money now, but me personal liked it way better before it.
Kribana (@krichelle)
15th November 2024, 13:41
This series should never have existed. Get rid of them. Teams don’t like having cameras in their garage every minute of a race weekend trying to get content.
notagrumpyfan
15th November 2024, 16:05
I quite like the series.
I don’t expect it to be (even close to) 100% historically/chronologically correct, but it gives me a much better feel of, and insight in, (F1) racing than any of the Hollywood (type) movies about top level racing does.
And the other positive of a series like this is that fans can opt in or out to watch, and it doesn’t impact the sport itself like tyre manufacturers, FLAPpoint, Sprint races, FIA politics, etc., etc. do.
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
15th November 2024, 15:33
Insider talk suggests that the season that came out earlier in the year didn’t do anywhere near as well as previous seasons.
Craig
15th November 2024, 17:11
I think the novelty’s worn off
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
17th November 2024, 18:46
Not just insider talk, RaceFans covered it in February: Drive to Survive’s first-week viewing figures fell for the second year in a row. The fall between 2023 and 2024 was 15%, and it only came 8th in the most-watched ratings for its first week (versus 4th for 2022). While the stronger 2024 season vs 2023 will have helped, Box to Box is likely hoping no big changes between Abu Dhabi and launch week occur in F1, on a par with Hamilton signing for Ferrari or Guenther Steiner leaving. Also, it has the obstacle of Daniel Ricciardo leaving, as he had a larger part of the narrative in Drive to Survive than his influence on the last few seasons of F1 itself.
Jezson
15th November 2024, 16:24
There’s still time/hope.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
15th November 2024, 17:13
reality tv was the worst thing to happen to humanity since the advent of social media.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
17th November 2024, 18:47
@pcxmac Reality TV started at least 4 years earlier than social media.
raddie (@raddie)
15th November 2024, 18:39
Drive to Nothing. Finally!
bull mello (@bullmello)
15th November 2024, 19:36
I don’t watch this show.
I do watch F1 for sure!
Pook (@michaeldouglasparkergmail-com)
15th November 2024, 20:55
F1 is too popular now. It makes attending a live event (for me Montreal) too much of a hassle. If they limited attendance to a reasonable level I might return. But its all about money of course.
PlosslF1 (@f1-ploss)
15th November 2024, 23:52
Had the misfortune to watch a few minutes of it and it was so fake it made me laugh more than a lot of todays so called comedy shows…
Vitaly
16th November 2024, 14:24
Same here. I was impressed at how, taking into consideration the fans thirst to any sort of F1 related material, they managed to create something totally fake and unwatchable. Takes talent :)