F1 Drive To Survive Accused Of Dramatic Misrepresentation By Fans But Creators Fight Back
Season 4 of Drive to Survive was released today to Netflix and fans will be happy to finally get a behind the scenes look at what happened towards the end of the F1 season at Abu Dhabi between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. But as reviews of the show start to roll in, some fans are questioning how much is a reflection of reality and how much is dramatised for entertainment purposes.
On top of this, fans are wondering whether the drama at Abu Dhabi was engineered specifically for Netflix. In fact, there’s been such a large number of people asking this, the Drive to Survive producers have answered themselves.
James Gay-Rees has told fans that what happened was “a total red herring”.
“It’s just people under enormous pressure making decisions in the moment. There’s no way anybody was thinking: ‘Will this play well on Netflix?'”
Mercedes F1 team principal toto Wolff did however admit that even he thought the show misrepresented the 2022 season.
“They create a spin to the narrative. They put scenes together that didn’t happen. I guess you’d say as an insider: ‘Well, that’s different than how it was.’
“But we’re creating entertainment, and that is a new dimension of entertainment.”
One of Drive to Survive’s creators, Paul Martin, tried to calm fans however, admitting: “Over the four series, Drive to Survive hasn’t over-editorialised anything.”
We don’t quite believe this, but… hey ho.
Max Verstappen, someone who opted out of being in the show because of how he was misrepresented, told fans:
“They faked a few rivalries which don’t really exist.”
But Gay-Rees was quick to retaliate:
“It’s a headline that everybody’s jumped on, but I think it’s a very subtle thing. Nobody could point to any misrepresentations or inaccuracies in the series.”
