Formula 1: Drive to Survive season 5 review: A divisive champion and a new era in F1

3/5

Story: As Max Verstappen and Red Bull prepare to defend their World Championships, an understandably livid Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes aim to regain their titles. Whereas, the ‘prancing horses’ Ferrari finally believe that they have built the best car to win their first Championship since Kimi Räikkönen stood on top of the podium in Interlagos, Brazil, all the way back in 2007. With the end of the hybrid era of Formula One, fans and those involved with the sport hope that the new regulations will bring more wheel-to-wheel racing.

Review: “It’s not a documentary. It’s closer to Top Gun than a documentary”, Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team Principal, quipped in one of the opening episodes of the fifth season. And he’s not too far off with this assessment. It’s a cut-throat business with high stakes, where drivers literally put their lives on the line to win races. Of course, the sport has become far safer in recent years compared to the 70s and 80s, but it remains one of the most dangerous sports on the planet. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a reality TV-style documentary, covering each season, has become widely popular.

The fifth season continues in the same vein as the previous seasons — excellent production value, in-depth interviews, dramatised racing action, and all the thrills, spills and chills that have long been associated with the sport. One might argue that the modem day F1 paddock is toned down when compared to its wild heyday from yesteryears. In fact, people would’ve paid top dollar just to get a taste of the historic rivalries such as Alain Prost vs Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher vs Mika Häkkinen, and James Hunt vs Niki Lauda. While the Hunt-Lauda rivalry was brilliantly brought to the silver screen by Ron Howard through the criminally underrated film Rush, the other captivating rivalries are yet to be thoroughly explored.

The most fascinating tales from season 5 of Drive to Survive, unsurprisingly involves Red Bull, Ferrari, and Mercedes. These stories focus on the struggles of the mighty Mercedes, Ferrari being self-sabotaging since 2008, and Red Bull emerging as the new villains of Formula One. The first episode does briefly navigate through the controversial manner in which Max Verstappen pipped Lewis Hamilton to the 2021 World Championship. It would be unjust on Hamilton to call it controversial, considering then Race Director, Michael Masi, bent the rules to figuratively hand the title to Max Verstappen. However, there can be no argument that Masi’s decision on the final race of 2021 made for excellent entertainment. It was by far the most entertaining end to a season since the iconic ‘Timo Glock’ moment when Hamilton won his first World Championship in 2008.

The series does inadvertently establish Red Bulls as the “naughty boys” — a term Red Bull team principal Christian Horner himself used to describe themselves. If Red Bull are the villains, and Mercedes are the fallen heroes, then Ferrari are most certainly the comic relief. Despite having the best car for the most part of the season, Ferrari and team principal Mattia Binotto made several questionable, and at times baffling, decisions that cost their driver Charles Leclerc a shot at the World title. Whereas Mercedes found themselves in a position that they had not experienced for nearly a decade — from all-conquering eight Constructor’s titles in a row to being the third-best team in the paddock.

There were other gripping moments thrown into the season, four-time World Champ Sebastian Vettel retiring, Alpine reserve driver Oscar Piastri jumping ship to McLaren after Alpine publicly announced him as their driver for next season, the rivalry between Alpine boss Otmar Szafnauer and McLaren boss Zak Brown, fan-favourite Daniel Riccardo losing his F1 seat, and Red Bull accused of breaching budget caps. However, there was one major story from the 2022 season that people who follow the sport would’ve loved to see in the documentary — the fallout between teammates Sergio Pérez and Max Verstappen at Interlagos, Brazil. It was completely wiped clean from the documentary, and in many ways, the incident firmly put Verstappen in the 'villain' category. He refused team orders, even from Horner, acted out of his volition, and decided to exact petty vengeance on Pérez for a mistake Pérez made at Monaco. It appears Red Bull have gone above and beyond to keep the Brazilian GP out of the documentary. It can only be viewed as a flagrant attempt at rewriting history.

Verdict: The fifth season of Formula 1: Drive to Survive is another excellent addition to the ongoing series. However, it would have certainly been placed on a much higher pedestal if the series did not attempt to paper over certain incidents. It defeats the purpose of being a documentary if the teams can influence the narrative for their benefit.