Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Drive To Survive’ Season 4 on Netflix, The Flagship Formula 1 Racing Documentary Series

Formula 1 racing is one of the most truly-international sports in the world–perhaps behind only soccer in its globe-trotting ambitions and globe-spanning appeal. For many American viewers, however, it was an overseas afterthought like polo or cricket–until Drive To Survive arrived on Netflix, that is. The drama-filled sports docuseries returns for a fourth season, promising even more of the heightened drama and heart-stopping acting of the thrill-packed motorsport.

DRIVE TO SURVIVE: SEASON 4: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: The fourth season opens strong, with a thrilling montage of drama both on and off the track–crashes, clashes, characters and storylines entered mid-stream. It’s clear that–just like its subject–this show is going to move fast.

The Gist: The 2021 Formula 1 World Championship season sees the sport poised for a change. Coming off of COVID limitations in 2020, the new season finds four-time-defending-champion Lewis Hamilton–owner of seven total championships, tied with the legendary Michael Schumacher for the most ever–facing stiff competition to keep his grip on the throne. Young Red Bull team driver Max Verstappen looms in his rearview mirror, along with a loaded slate of other worthy competitors. Can the savvy veteran hold on, and take sole possession of the record? Or will his streak of dominance finally be broken? These are the storylines at play as Drive To Survive, the motorsport’s flagship television program, enters its fourth season on Netflix.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? At this point, the question might be “what other shows remind you of Drive To Survive?” But if you haven’t yet been initiated into streaming television’s most-popular sports soap opera, you might find a lesser comparison in HBO’s NFL-training-camp-drama Hard Knocks. (Also worth noting: Amazon’s similarly-focused docuseries Grand Prix Driver arrived in 2018, a full year before the first season of Drive To Survive aired, but for whatever reason Amazon didn’t decide to give their series a second season.)

Our Take: If you’re like me–an American sports fan who primarily follows the sports that are most popular in North America like football, basketball and baseball–you might’ve noticed something unusual happening in the last year or two.

It was confusing at first–a few unfamiliar names that kept popping up in your social media feeds, and then popping up again. Some cryptic talk about an event you weren’t aware of. People talking more and more about Mercedes for reasons that were unclear.

Then, one day, you realized: suddenly a lot of people you know were really into Formula 1 racing.

How did this happen?

The answer, of course, is Drive To Survive. Though Formula 1 racing has been around for more than seventy years and is hugely popular overseas, the recent uptick in American viewers’ interest can be pinned largely to the success of Netflix’s hugely entertaining sports documentary series. The first season debuted in 2019, and though Netflix is habitually-coy about their viewership numbers, its appeal–anecdotally, at least–has snowballed with each successive season.

The latest season, which debuted this week on the streaming service, follows the 2021 Formula One World Championship season, a slate of 22 races that took place from March to December 2021. Each season of the show condenses a full season of racing into ten easily-digestible episodes of around 40 minutes each, making it the perfect on-ramp for new viewers to an unfamiliar sport: the barrier to entry is low, and the major storylines (though, presumably embellished for the cameras) are laid out right in front of you. (If only soccer or hockey made things so easy!)

An individual sport like racing relies on big names–big personalities–to provide drawing power, and even if you’re parachuting in brand-new to the sport, it’s clear from the start that F1’s got personality to spare, from Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen to Valterri Bottas and on down the rankings. Even non-sports-fans might find themselves drawn in, because ultimately Drive To Survive is a well-crafted reality show more than it is an indifferent retelling of sporting events.

Sex and Skin: The stars of Formula 1 exude charisma and confidence, but no one’s hopping in bed here. At least not on camera.

Parting Shot: Fireworks explode in the night sky over Bahrain as Lewis Hamilton holds off rival Max Verstappen in the Bahrain Grand Prix, the first race of the season and the first of many head-to-head duels the two will have in their chase for the championship.

Sleeper Star: Drive To Survive is nothing but stars, with F1’s biggest names–Verstappen, Hamilton, Bottas and more–all represented. The most charming entrant from the opening episode of the fourth season might be Mattia Binotto, engineer and team principal of Scuderia Ferrari, a bespectacled John Turturro lookalike with the most Italian energy imaginable.

Most Pilot-y Line: “This sport is cutthroat, obviously,” British driver George Russell notes in a montage leading up to the first race of the season, “and we’re all here to win.” “I’m like a tiger, silently preparing,” Japanese driver Yuki Tsunoda adds. “I don’t have any fear.”

Our Call: STREAM IT. Even if you’re not a racing fan going in, you might find yourself hooked after the first episode.

Scott Hines is an architect, blogger and internet user who lives in Louisville, Kentucky with his wife, two young children, and a small, loud dog.