Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Drive To Survive’ Season 5 on Netflix, a Fresh Edition of the Fast-Paced Gold Standard of Sports-Reality Shows

It’s a rare show that can usher in a whole new generation of sports fans, but if any has, it’s Netflix’s stalwart Drive To Survive. The hugely-popular show, which has brought millions of new eyeballs to Formula 1 racing, returns for a fifth season this week. As before, the show follows the world’s top drivers as they compete in the 2022 Formula One World Championship. And as always, it promises as much drama off the track as on it.

DRIVE TO SURVIVE SEASON 5: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A quick, fast montage of the previous season’s most dramatic moments quickly segues into a “new dawn” in the Dolomites of Italy, as Haas Formula One principal Guenther Steiner and Ferrari engineer Mattia Binotto zip along winding mountain roads in a tiny Italian car, laughing and joking as the beautiful scenery flies by.

The Gist: Season 5 of Drive To Survive picks up as it always has, at the beginning of a new season of racing. The 2022 Formula One World Championship kicks off with the Bahrain Grand Prix, and a host of new questions. Can the Haas-Ferrari team recover from a disastrous 2021 season? Can Max Verstappen defend his Drivers’ Championship title? Will global political events impact the season? There’s a lot to unpack, and things get rolling quickly.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? At this point, the reputation of Drive To Survive stands alone–it’s been a pioneer in repackaging lesser-known-to-American-audiences sports into week-by-week reality television. If anything, other shows (such as Netflix’s tennis-focused Break Point and golf-focused Full Swing) are hoping that they’ll remind you of Drive To Survive.

Our Take: The strength of Drive To Survive has always been its ability to craft clear narrative arcs out of the chaos of a sporting season. This is the benefit of filming a show live and then presenting it after the action has concluded; with the benefit of a wide view on the season’s events, the producers can edit down to the key storylines and show them as they unfold.

At the outset of Drive To Survive Season 5, many of those storylines center on the Haas-Ferrari team, still reeling from a disappointing 2021 season. With the debut of a brand-new Formula One car–the Haas VF22–and a team reformulated by geopolitical necessity–team leaders Guenther Steiner is hoping for a dramatic shift in their team’s fortunes.

The most visible change, of course, is the absence of Russia from their team–the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the international outrage and sanctions that followed, forced the Haas-Ferrari team to drop driver Nikita Mazepin, along with title sponsor Uralkali. Back into the mix is Danish driver Kevin Magnussen, who previously raced for the team from 2017 to 2020. Can he bring the team back to success?

By his side is another compelling storyline–that of second-year driver Mick Schumacher, son of one of Formula One racing’s all-time greats in Michael Schumacher, who won seven Drivers’ Championships and set a number of other records before a traumatic brain injury while skiing forced his retirement in 2014. Can the younger Schumacher step out of his father’s massive shadow and into the top of the standings?

Of course, there’s plenty of other storylines beyond just this one team. Can Max Verstappen retain his Drivers’ Championship title? Can Charles Leclerc finally break through and win his first? Can Lewis Hamilton win a record eighth title, breaking his tie with the elder Schumacher? Even beyond the longer narrative arcs, there’s little reminders of how fast-paced and dangerous the sport can be, like when Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri car bursts into flames during the first race.

You don’t have to have watched previous seasons of Drive To Survive to jump in here; it’s a fresh season, and even though there’s plenty of returning faces, the show helps you catch up quick to what’s happening right now.

Sex and Skin: None, just those sexy, sexy cars.

Parting Shot: Charles LeClerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. finish first and second in the opening race in Bahrain, marking a strong start to the season for Scuderia Ferrari. There’s 21 more races ahead, though, and a lot of road to go if anyone’s going to unseat Max Verstappen and the Red Bull Racing team.

Sleeper Star: Drive To Survive is all about creating new characters for viewers to care about, but if you focus on the first episode of Season 5 alone, the early pole position goes to Haas-Ferrari team principal Guenther Steiner, whose oddball mix of engineer intensity and Italian charm makes for plenty of good sound bytes.

Most Pilot-y Line: “Strategy today?” a team member asks reigning champion Max Verstappen before the first race of the new season. “If we are fastest, we will win,” Verstappen responds, in apparent seriousness. It’s a good point, though, and a good strategy. I guess that’s why he’s the defending champ.

Our Call: STREAM IT. There’s no sports show on television that packages the drama of competition into less than a hour as well as Drive To Survive, and if you haven’t jumped on yet, a new season is as good a reason as any to hop on in.

Scott Hines is an architect, blogger and proficient internet user based in Louisville, Kentucky who publishes the widely-beloved Action Cookbook Newsletter.