Drive To Survive Season 5 review
A depressed Daniel Ricciardo fan's perspective
Content note: as you may have guessed, this contains massive spoilers for Drive To Survive season 5. It is also wildly, irrationally biased toward Daniel Ricciardo.
Drive To Survive season 5 came out on Friday. Many people were looking forward to it, but as my favorite driver/human in Formula One doesn’t have a seat on the grid in 2023, I was not among them. When the release dates were announced, the general reaction among Daniel fans on Twitter was that watching it would be like being tortured, with dramatic pronouncements about how much we’d hate it. I, for one, chimed in with “Oh, I know I'm gonna watch. But I also have the kind of deep-seated self-loathing that led me to spend over 10 years working in American politics, so.”
And yet, we’re all watching it anyway! I was going to subtitle this “Ric Nation, I watched Drive To Survive so you don’t have to,” but judging by Twitter today, we are all willingly making ourselves miserable. This is objectively ridiculous behavior, but what is life/fandom if not suffering?
So let’s do it. Episode names and timestamps marked if you want to skip around. Come cry with me.
Episode 1: The New Dawn
1:39: Unsure if Mercedes’ mediocre-by-their-standards 2022 season makes Toto saying “Everybody has a target on their backs next year” funnier or more depressing, but regardless, I’m glad Netflix included it in the recap. Let’s do this.
3:11: Mattia Binotto calling Guenther Steiner the protagonist of the Netflix show? Sir, have you not heard of Daniel Ricciardo? (Though Guenther is great on the show, don’t get me wrong.) Also, I would absolutely watch the Binotto-Steiner road trip comedy spinoff. Binotto’s unemployed now, we can make this happen.
6:54: George Russell, who was born in 1998, just used the phrase “This is groovy.” Protect that man at all costs.
8:13: Daniel starting his interview by singing “Twist and Shout” and telling Netflix “I’m in a good place.” Oh no. WHY ARE THEY DOING THIS TO ME?
11:26: Well, now I’m girding myself for another source of pain: Charles’ and Ferrari’s early optimism that they had a car that can win the championship. If only their strategists and fragile engine got the memo…
11:34: Netflix, if we don’t get some time with Alex Albon to talk about his 2022 comeback after being fired from Red Bull and how well he drove a frankly terrible Williams car, I am going to have issues with you. Him suiting up for free practice is insufficient!
16:06: “No more Russians. I’m done with Russians until I go from this planet.” - me post-2016 election and also Guenther Steiner
16:27: Personally, I think Nikita Mazepin actually managing to come in 21st in a 20-person contest should have been reason enough to get rid of him, but I guess “sanctions mean his oligarch pay driver money is no longer any good and it’s bad press” works too.
17:17: LOL at Netflix putting in the “suck my balls” interaction between Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen knowing full well they’re 2023 teammates. Such delightful shit-stirring.
20:10: I really like Will Buxton as a commentator and I know that Netflix uses him as essentially a series narrator, which means he has to explain elements of the sport to brand-new fans…but come on, “You wanna start from the front because that means you’ve got the other 19 drivers starting behind you” will never not be funny.
24:07: OMG Kevin’s baby! I am melting at how cute she is. Side note: highly recommend Haas’ video of the team’s celebration after the Bahrain Grand Prix, which includes more of her.
29:44: More side notes: I’m planning a trip to Italy in May (travel tips always welcomed) and I am LOVING these shots of Binotto’s vineyard in the Italian countryside. Such a beautiful landscape. I can’t wait to be there.
34:18: There are fair criticisms of DTS, certainly, but they’re really very good at capturing the excitement and intensity of F1 racing. Loving the action they’re showing from the Bahrain Grand Prix. Doesn’t hurt that it was also an exciting race, of course!
36:06: I have two thoughts here: it’s so upsetting that Ferrari’s general Ferrari-ing deprived us of an entire season of battles like this, and also the proper POV shots of what the driver sees (as opposed to an onboard camera) are crazy. So much movement and such a crowded field of vision with the halo and incredibly complex steering wheels. I cannot imagine the mental effort and focus it takes to drive one of these.
44:37: More baby Magnussen! Thank you, Netflix.
That was a fun episode. Slightly odd to start on the first race and skip over preseason other than one minute of Mazepin getting bounced, but that’s probably better for getting people hyped up. Let’s do some more of this.
Episode 2, “Bounce Back”
0:20: I’m glad we’re starting this episode with a cute dog also named Toto Wolff before we get into “the 2022 Mercedes is slow and might be actively trying to kill its drivers” territory. Thanks, Netflix?
2:22: Ah, now we have preseason testing, aka the time when we all learned about the Mercedes’ terrible porpoising.
4:28: This is where I should probably mention that Mercedes is my 2023 team while Daniel Ricciardo isn’t going to be on the grid. I don’t have any attachment to them as a constructor, but I love both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. They’re not the only drivers I like or root for, but that combo is just so good and I want them to do well. Lewis deserves that 8th championship and I really believe that George is right up there with Max and Charles as far as talented young drivers.5: So this episode…is also going to hurt! Yay!
4:35: George, did you really need to mention that you’re 24 years old? I feel ancient.
5:18: In fairness to Lewis, “Mercedes AMG-Petronas Formula 1 Team” is a mouthful.
5:29: Honestly, it’s a testament to how good Lewis is that a year (2021) in which he came in second and was one poorly-timed safety car with questionable unlapping procedures away from winning the championship is a difficult season that he needs to make a comeback from. However, I have bad news for Past Lewis about his prospects of doing so in 2022.
8:54: I was not expecting to hear someone make a reference to Pimp My Ride in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty-two, but it happened! Also, I’m mildly shocked that George remembers that show.
11:22: I do feel like the Netflix edit somewhat overstates how quickly non-Mercedes teams got a handle on porpoising issues, but it is true that they made much more progress with it through testing than Mercedes.
11:44: Wait, didn’t Daniel have COVID during testing in Bahrain? How did they have this footage? Is it from somewhere else, or did they figure out how to film him while he was staying isolated? (Though I do appreciate his demonstration of porpoising.)
12:50: Christian Horner going into a straight-up villain laugh discussing Mercedes’ problems. He loves the drama and the shit-talking, and you know what, even though I don’t root for Red Bull beyond a certain third driver I do enjoy watching it.
13:08: Nyck de Vries sighting in the Mercedes garage! I recently decided to splurge on an F1 TV subscription and I’ve been enjoying old races from the archive, and one of the fun random things I enjoy is them showing shots of then-reserve drivers watching races from the garage who went on to do really well in F1 as full-time drivers.
14:43: Shots fired from Binotto! Also, he might regret those words, given how Ferrari’s issues almost allowed Mercedes to catch them for 2nd by the end of the season.
15:13: Okay, I get the other teams being a little gleeful about Mercedes’ 2022 woes, but I feel like that laughter from Will Buxton was a little uncalled for. I know a shakeup at the top of the standings makes for good TV, but come on, dude.
15:51: Wait, is this the first time we’ve seen Valtteri Bottas? Definitely need more of him this season. Just give me a few minutes on how much happier he is at Alfa Romeo and his bromance with/mentoring of Zhou Guanyu, Netflix, that’s all I ask. (If he wants to get naked and bring Netflix into a Finnish sauna again, that’s his business.)
18:52: I don’t expect Netflix to get into this in any depth, but Lewis is right about the bloated schedule. Obviously more races are fun for fans, but that seems to put a ton of stress on drivers and teams, it’s an environmental nightmare to ship cars and garages all over the world for a sport that wants to greenwash itself (and they won’t put geographically close races nearby on the calendar to make it easier), some of the tracks that hang around the calendar aren’t great for exciting races, and it makes seasons from different eras really hard to compare/pretty much ruins the value of season-long records. 20-21 races is probably a good number, but if the Chinese Grand Prix hadn’t been canceled 2023 would have had 24. Give them a break.
23:03: Oh man. The shot of Lewis gingerly getting out of the car because of porpoising-related back pain is rough. I have occasional sciatica flare-ups and that’s exactly how I move…and it’s never a good thing when professional athletes move like I do.
25:35: That segment about Lewis potentially retiring felt a bit weird, honestly. Some of it is hindsight, knowing that he’s signed on for 2023, but also…unless he retired midseason, it wouldn’t be that hard for Mercedes to replace him? I feel like a lot of young drivers would jump at that opportunity, even if Mercedes had to pay their current teams a buyout to get them out of their contracts. Sure, Lewis is among the greatest drivers of all time (I won’t be baited into a GOAT argument), but the talent pool in F1 is there. Feels like Horner was doing a little wishful thinking.
27:04: LMAO Christian Horner accusing someone else of playing to the cameras, amazing. Pot calling the kettle black, my dude.
28:10: “It was great sitting back, watching the drama.” Jost Capito is all of us.
31:05: No one who has followed George Russell on Instagram is surprised that he ended up shirtless on Netflix. Love it.
31:34: “Have you just drawn a dick on there?” “It’s a love heart.” I love them both.
34:15: I don’t love it when F1 coverage is like “Look at all these celebrities here!” when racing is happening, and though it’s not entirely the same since they can make runtime whatever, I’m also not a fan of Netflix doing it. No one cares that Tom Cruise is in the garage, dude.
37:01: Oh God, this crash was so, so horrible. Thank God Zhou Guanyu was okay, and I’m glad George went to help alongside the race marshals. (Obviously Netflix is slowing this down for suspense, it was quicker in real time to see Zhou get out of the car, but it’s still a scary moment.)
38:51: I know I keep saying this about different people, but more screentime for Zhou as well, please. I feel like he had an undeserved reputation as a pay driver coming in due to being the first Chinese driver in F1 and potentially tapping into that market, but he proved he’s good enough to be there on merit.
44:21: “And through goes Hamilton!” I have chills. One of the best battles all season.
Episode 3, “Matter of Principal”
0:00: Netflix, I am facepalming at your punny title right now.
3:49: “…and the championship leader, Charles Leclerc!” Oh boy, here we go. (Also, if Christian Horner thinks the hype for Miami is over-the-top, I can only imagine what his reaction will be to a Las Vegas Grand Prix next year. Which, btw, I’m unsure if the racing will be good but a race on the Vegas Strip at night will be a thing of beauty even if I have to stay up until 3 AM to see the end. Eat your heart out, Singapore.)
4:25: The fake marina in the Miami circuit just kills me. It’s hilarious. Of course, I wouldn’t turn down a seat in it.
5:15: FYI for anyone who doesn’t know - Romain Grosjean got off a great joke about being the DHL driver, but he’s actually driving for Andretti in IndyCar after recovering from his horrific 2020 crash. Happy to see him!
7:05: Idle thought while watching the Ferrari love in Miami - has anyone tried to quantify which drivers and teams are most popular in America, and if it’s different from worldwide fandom? I am extremely willing to take on this market research project if someone wants to hire me/GBAO for it.
9:16: Daniel Ricciardo bopping to a national anthem! I was hoping for that as soon as they started playing “The Star-Spangled Banner” and I was not disappointed.
11:13: Horner referring to Carlos as being there to back Charles is, I think, much more telling about Red Bull and how they view their drivers than it is about Ferrari. If anything, Ferrari hurt themselves strategically in 2022 by not treating Charles as the #1 driver, and Carlos is a fine driver in his own right even if he’s not quite as quick as Charles.
18:11: Ooof, that was painful to rewatch. I assume Spain is next and we’re about to go from bad to worse for Ferrari.
20:30: So, we skip ahead to Monaco? I guess if the theme is “Ferrari strategic blunders,” that makes sense, but it’s weird not to talk about Spain when Charles started on pole, retired with an engine issue while he had a massive lead, and Max took the lead in the driver’s championship by winning that race.
20:57: Pain. Especially since that’s Charles’ home race.
24:30: Honestly, I feel like Carlos was being generous to Ferrari when he said “It’s not more than two or three races without a setback.”
28:31: He’s obviously very proudly British, but I feel like the Hamilton fan wearing solely British flag clothing and a double beer can hat, with several more beers in his fanny pack, would fit right in here in America. Can we offer him citizenship?
29:25: It feels mildly weird to have super-intense coverage of the same race two episodes in a row, and yet I can’t fault Netflix for it? Silverstone was such a good race. Just hope Brazil gets this treatment too.
31:13: Again, I feel like Horner fundamentally misunderstands Ferrari. Red Bull is so committed to Max as their #1 driver and he assumes Ferrari operates the same with Charles. They don’t.
38:46: I enjoy the “Stop inventing” radio as much as anyone, but I feel like this sequence is telling. Maybe it’s Carlos being older and more experienced or just a personality difference, but he’s more willing to interject when he disagrees with Ferrari strategy and that’s to his benefit. (I’m definitely far from the first person to observe this.) Other top drivers do it too, and I feel like Charles probably needs to get comfortable doing that - as unfair as it is that he has to become his own strategist while also driving the damn thing.
42:55: Seriously, Binotto? You had a 1-2 finish on your hands and Charles didn’t even finish on the podium. It wasn’t the right decision. Also, him wagging his finger at Charles post-race makes me cringe so hard. The fucking nerve of him to mess up Charles’ strategy and then lecture him.
Episode 4, “Like Father, Like Son?”
0:33: This is probably the last time I’m going to say anything nice about Guenther for this episode, but “Last year, for two points, I mean I would have fucked the whole paddock” is a very funny line. Albeit a horrifying mental image.
2:57: I wonder if Netflix will have the balls to talk about the missile strike near the racetrack during the free practice session of the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix and the resulting shitstorm. Color me skeptical, but I’ll give them credit if they do.
5:02: Seb referring to Michael Schumacher in the past tense is just so, so sad. (Also, Netflix, if you aren’t extremely respectful of the Schumachers’ desire for privacy around post-skiing accident Michael in this episode, we will have Words.)
9:07: That was a seriously scary crash. And not the only one that’s happened in the first couple years of racing at the Jeddah circuit. Obviously it’s a problem for Mick and Haas to crash, but I feel like the danger of this track shouldn’t be overlooked. (If you hadn’t guessed yet, Saudi Arabia would be the first track I’d remove from the calendar if F1 decided to slim down the calendar. But as a wise man once said, cash is king.)
11:27: I respect Kevin Magnussen sticking up for Mick here. I’m sure he knows how it feels, as a driver who’s both been bounced from his seat before and gotten a reputation (fair or not) for being crash-prone.
12:45: Oh man. It probably was the right decision for Haas to (eventually, Netflix hasn’t gotten there yet) let Mick go and find a different driver. But I feel so terrible for Mick even seeing him briefly on screen. He seems like such a sweet guy in a tough situation.
13:16: “You can’t develop talent.” Uh. This seems…not really true? I know Haas had a rough go of it with two rookie drivers in 2021, and I still think Mazepin didn’t belong in F1, but there are loads of drivers who start out too aggressive and crash-prone and develop into brilliant drivers. Shit, watch Max Verstappen a few years ago and you’ll see tons of crashes. Feels like a failure on Haas’s part to take responsbility for properly training their young drivers. They’ve pivoted to older drivers who need a second chance, and while I think that’s not the worst strategy, it probably really limits their ceiling moving forward.
13:52: Just noting that there is dog content here. Maya did nothing wrong, Guenther! The poor girl is hungry!
22:33: Sorry to make the Mick episode about Daniel, but I have to for a bit. Some people said that he should have taken the Haas seat and it was a mistake to choose not to race full-time instead of taking the seat he likely could have had. I couldn’t disagree more, and I feel like all of this episode is proof of why. Mick’s confidence is clearly shot and his team principal is snarking on him, including about his brake fears, in full view of the cameras. Daniel’s confidence was shot after his stint at McLaren. You cannot convince me this kind of environment would be good for him to get back into a groove and drive well. Fuck Guenther for this.
25:31: Silverstone is the actual main character of this season, I swear. And I don’t hate it. We’re about to see Mick in the points for his first time!
27:20: Well, that’s an…interesting exchange about who else could drive for Haas. Mostly notable for it happening in July, at which point Daniel was publicly committed to McLaren.
33:00: Highly amused that one of the low-key things we see in this episode is how much love there is between Seb and the Schumacher family, what a good relationship he and Mick have…and yet when Mick’s about to pass him, Seb’s reaction is just “Shit.” You just can’t take that competitiveness out of these guys.
I was distracted and forgot to pause to get the timestamps, but the final interview with Guenther just stings a little. Not so much for refusing to commit to Mick, but how…flat it was. Your driver came through, be happy for him.
Episode 5, “Pardon My French”
0:00: I feel like Netflix is going to regret using up this episode title in season 5 if there’s Pierre Gasly-Esteban Ocon drama at Alpine in 2023, which seems highly probable. What would the title be then?
1:24: I feel like Lawrence Stroll would be a hell of a Bond villian. Even on TV, you can just sense that he has a presence and charisma that makes people stand up and take notice, even if he’s a ruthless billionaire.
3:49: How dare you, Laurent Rossi? The smooth operator of F1 is clearly Carlos Sainz.
5:08: I know this Alonso bit was probably filmed way before Midnights came out, but until someone can prove otherwise I’m just going to assume that his “there always have to be good characters and bad ones, heroes and antiheroes” was inspired by Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero” because Alonso is a closet Swiftie.
6:28: Okay, so…I know how the Oscar Piastri saga unfolds, with Oscar taking Daniel’s seat at McLaren, and even so I’m still excited to see the initial drama unfold. Here we go, get your popcorn ready!
9:16: Latifi’s excitement over the croissant station in the French Grand Prix paddock is extremely relatable.
13:34: Okay, so that wasn’t nearly as bad as the 10-second Hamilton penalty in (I think) 2021 that Netflix stretched out to 51 seconds, but I timed that with my iPhone stopwatch. Netflix stretched out Ocon’s 5-second penalty to nearly 8 seconds.
14:02: “If they want to fight, they will pay the price” is such a good villain line from Alonso. I have a grudging respect for good villainy.
15:10: Ugh, goddamnit, that really was a good overtake on Ocon’s part. Also an extremely relatable and sad “I fucking tried” from Daniel.
17:42: Another dog! Which is by far the most interesting part of this scene.
19:15: Budapest is so gorgeous. One of the pitfalls of being into Formula One, I suppose, is that it makes me want to travel everywhere. Please let me go to Hungary and enjoy the natural hot springs someday.
20:42: Checo’s reaction to Seb’s retirement is all of us, honestly. “Seb has Instagram?”, followed by watching the video and immediately looking shocked.
21:49: “It’s like a giant game of musical chairs. You never quite know who’s gonna be a big winner, but someone always loses out.” Okay, cool, gonna go cry now.
28:07: “And Ricciardo gets them both!” That’s probably the last moment of happiness I’m going to feel in quite some time watching this arc. In fact, I’m gonna take a break right here to shower, because I know what comes next. Just going to enjoy that beauty of a double overtake for a little while longer.
29:04: Yup. Knew that collision between Daniel and Lance Stroll was coming, seen it before, doesn’t feel any less awful.
32:50: And away we go with silly season! The thing not mentioned here that’s been pretty widely reported after the fact - Alonso wanted a multi-year contract, but Alpine was apparently only willing to sign Alonso to a one-year deal. I can’t fault Alpine for that thinking, as they had (at the time) a really talented reserve driver that they saw as the future of their team and Alonso, as brilliant a driver as he is, is 41 and drivers younger than him (like, uh, Seb) are retiring. But it is disingenuous for Otmar to say he didn’t know what Aston Martin offered while very clearly hinting that it was all about money. This edit feels a little unfair to Alonso.
That said…Alonso is basically a professional bridge-burner who drives F1 cars on the side, so I don’t feel that bad for him, and he’s clearly willing to embrace the bad-guy role.
Also, a side note: the Fernando meme tweet they showed with the handle blurred is from F1 Reaction Pictures, a delightful account I highly recommend you all follow.
33:49: “We do have now a spot for Oscar, our reserve driver.” Oh no, my secondhand embarrassment just went through the roof. And the tweet announcing it…but we haven’t seen the legendary Oscar tweet yet. Hold on to your butts.
34:26: I’ll readily admit I’m biased, but putting this scene here of discussing replacing Daniel is a McLaren-friendly edit to make it look like it only happened after Seb and Alonso plunged the driver’s market into chaos. And the thing is, we know from Netflix’s own footage that’s not true. Go back to episode 4 and Silverstone, well before all of this, where Haas is talking about Daniel like he’s on the market for a seat. (Of course, I’m assuming that conversation took place at Silverstone and wasn’t edited, I could be wrong about that, but that’s when they showed it.) Zak Brown was also making public comments about Daniel not meeting expectations back in May.
34:58: …and there it is!
Episode 6, “Nice Guys Finish Last”
0:00: Oh no. This is gonna hurt.
0:59: Christian Horner has the correct opinion on camping (he hates it) and the family dog is there. Still confused about why we’re keeping up with the Horners in Daniel’s episode, especially given the skinny runtime (32 minutes?), but hopefully we get there.
4:04: That fucking video.
4:22: George Russell looks ready to cut someone over this. Same, George, same.
5:10: More of Otmar’s dog Bear! Very good dog. Once again, carrying a scene where otherwise all Otmar does is complain about Oscar Piastri’s lack of loyalty as if he wouldn’t drop Oscar or any other driver in a heartbeat if he wasn’t performing.
6:24: “If things don’t go well, you might see me floating.” Everything hurts and I’m dying, and Daniel’s out here making jokes.
6:57: I both appreciate the engineers checking in on Daniel and hate him having to reassure them that he’s all right.
8:56: If all the candidates I’ve polled for could handle a post-awful-news press conference as well as Daniel did, I’d be a happy pollster. Pure class and professionalism. (Meanwhile, I’m ready to swear eternal revenge on McLaren and Zak Brown. Ric Nation will be petty and vengeful for you, Daniel.)
9:53: I’m gaining respect for Checo here. He obviously knows what it’s like, having been jettisoned from what was then Racing Point and was at risk of not having a seat at all until Red Bull fired Albon and signed him, and he was kind to Daniel and took the time to talk to him after that presser. F1 pundits are trying to stir shit up, claiming Daniel’s third driver role is putting Checo’s seat at risk, and I would find that outcome a little upsetting, as much as I’d love for Daniel to be in a car that good. I don’t want Checo to do so poorly that he’s out of a Red Bull seat. I’m hoping something opens up elsewhere so both Daniel and Checo can be on the grid in 2024 - they’re both very good drivers who deserve it.
10:33: Did not gain any respect for Lando, on the other hand.
11:07: I am still seething with hatred for everyone at McLaren laughing and joking about the Piastri situation, but Zak Brown has a point - how did Alpine fuck this up? I feel like I’ve never really found out what happened, but something had to go down for (a) Oscar to bolt from Alpine and (b) Alpine to publicly announce it without actually confirming with Oscar first. I was hoping Netflix would shine a little light on it, but doesn’t look that way.
12:34: “I told you not to trust Zak.” Oh boy. I have Questions. (Also, that is clearly not Cyril Abiteboul, I have no idea what the author of the preview article was thinking when they incorrectly said it was and sent F1 Twitter into a frenzy. They’re speaking Italian FFS!)
17:30: Yes, I get that Alpine is upset Daniel left after only two years, and they’re not wrong. (In hindsight, I feel like he freaked out after the 2019 car was tough and bolted too soon. He had a really good 2020 season with them and could have likely continued to do more with their solid 2021 and 2022 cars.) But this is an organization that has had Fernando Alonso drive for them three separate times! He left them the first time after winning back-to-back world championships with them! You’re telling me you can’t forgive a guy for getting frustrated at P9 and looking elsewhere?
21:40: Otmar knows Daniel’s talent is still there. This hurts.
22:15: Oh no, the montage of Daniel’s wins at 2018 Monaco and 2021 Monza. My heart is shattering in a million pieces.
25:27: More reserve driver sightings - in this case, Jack Doohan in the Alpine garage! I’m just mentioning this to distract myself from the agony that was Daniel’s Netherlands race.
Okay, so post-episode thoughts…Daniel felt like an afterthought in his own episode. I do see how there was a lot to cover with the Alpine/McLaren and Oscar Piastri stuff, but this episode was really short compared to others in the series (though others this season are shorter as well). Doesn’t feel at all like they did him justice. He got a couple minutes of interview time, at best. Maybe he didn’t give them much to work with - in what they did show, he seemed determined to put on a good face and show how motivated he still was and maybe he didn’t fully let his guard down or provide good footage. But that’s not really how Daniel operates. He’s let them in during tough times before.
A theory floating around Twitter is that team principals have some level of veto power over Drive To Survive episodes and it feels like Zak Brown used it here. After seeing the episode, I think they’re probably right. He’s definitely not the only one - Alonso’s villain edit was not fully deserved and I suspect that was Alpine/Otmar’s doing - but it feels like there are blanks left out. Daniel never fully gelled with the McLaren, but both drivers struggled in early 2022 races. Lando adapted better and got “best of the rest” results the rest of the season, but that car had problems. And we didn’t get anything about how Daniel was dealing with his struggles before the announcement or what his dealings with McLaren were like. I’ll just say I don’t think it was Daniel’s choice to clam up on those subjects.
Anyway. I’m going to consume some adult substances, go to bed, and return to binging and writing about it in the morning. I’ll leave this here in the meantime.
Episode 7, “Hot Seat”
2:53: Loving all these shots of Monaco, the world’s prettiest tax dodge. (Sorry, had to. I’m serious about how pretty it is, though.) Although it is weird to jump back to Monaco after spending two straight episodes in the middle of the season.
3:10: Let’s all thank our lucky stars that Lewis was arguing with police over closed roads in Monaco and not America…
4:13: “From a selfish point of view, you’d want a really boring championship, but that’s not going to happen.” Horner with the reverse jinx!
6:24: “At 32 years of age, he’s in the senior years of his career.” SIR. That was uncalled for and hurtful. (Yes, I am also 32.)
11:41: Alex Albon spotting Guenther and immediately trying to divert the cameras onto him is hilarious. Well done, Alex.
16:16: It kills me how badly Monaco went for Ferrari, given how good they were in qualifying all year. It should have been their race and they fucked the strategy up - and it cost Charles a win in his home race.
18:25: So, are we going to talk about the, shall we say, theories surrounding Checo’s crash? I feel like we aren’t, but we should.
20:34: I feel like, for all the hype that Max Verstappen would actually sit down and be interviewed for DTS this season, we’re not seeing all that much of him or anything particularly interesting/insightful while he’s there. If “be deliberately boring so they don’t use you but can’t complain that you didn’t show” is his strategy, I respect it. (After all, that was my strategy the time I was accidentally in a Frank Luntz made-for-TV focus group.) Just feel like it’s not living up to the hype.
21:18: Okay, yeah, I think showing Ted Kravitz’s question that danced around it - mentioning that Checo’s crash cost Max a shot at pole but not going further - is as good as we’re going to get on that subject. For shame, Netflix. There was more drama to be mined there!
24:56: I deeply appreciate Pierre using the F1 game to explain how difficult it is to race in the rain in Monaco. (I’ve never played - I’m terrible at console games and don’t have the space for a sim setup.)
27:28: Pain. Indescribable pain.
Episode 8, “Alpha Male”
1:03: The Pierre-Yuki friendship is just precious. It’s probably much better for Pierre’s career to go to Alpine, but I’ll miss these two as teammates.
2:33: Oh hey, we’re at Suzuka! Also on my “will Netflix include this or leave it out?” list is the brief window of time after this race where no one had any idea if Max had actually clinched the world championship because it wasn’t clear if it was full or partial points. (I’m just assuming the tractor coming out while cars were still on track and Pierre’s correctly outraged comments after are on the cutting room floor.)
4:31: Rude of Netflix to put in Yuki’s comment about a workout ruining his whole day along with the compilation of cursing at his race engineers and crashes. That was just him being extremely relatable.
8:27: I’m going to spend the rest of the night trying to figure out if the guy talking to Yuki in that clip intentionally said “And then, survive.” because he knew the Netflix cameras were there and wanted them to use the clip, or if it was accidental.
10:54: How fucking horrible were the full wet tires in 2022? Teams would just never use them unless forced to. I would be terrified to drive a regular car at normal speeds in rain like Suzuka, and those drivers were out on intermediates. Insanity.
12:53: It is really, really hard to see that George Russell overtake as Yuki’s fault. For all Mercedes’ woes relative to expectations in 2022, they were still the third-best car on the grid and the AlphaTauri was…not. Obviously part of that scene is Yuki still struggling to keep a cool head under pressure, but just felt like that shouldn’t go unsaid.
14:40: Hello Nyck de Vries! Super excited he’ll be driving full-time for AlphaTauri this year. He’s deserved this shot for quite awhile.
16:57: “Reckon he could beat you?” “Uh, no.” I love Yuki. Even if I am very worried for him that he’s wrong on this point, I just love him.
19:37: Oh hello Horsey McHorse! Very pleased that Daniel’s grand entrance into COTA made it here. (Let’s not talk about how the actual race went for him, please. It was a dark time.)
21:00: I know how important training neck muscles is for Formula One drivers, so they can withstand the G forces and keep their heads up, but I’m sorry - the neck training devices are hilarious. They look like extremely confusing BDSM gear.
22:12: “Is your horse here or not?” “Neigh.”
28:29: I watch DTS with subtitles on, partially for non-English speakers or to make sense of tricky accents and partially because I’m getting older and went to a lot of rock shows in my 20s. I didn’t really notice any discrepancies until the last couple episodes, but the subtitle writers are, uh, taking some liberties. Crofty saying “could cost Yuki points today” turning into “could spell disaster for Yuki and his chance of earning points today” is particularly egregious.
29:07: An even worse one - Alex’s race engineer saying “Two to go, two laps to go” shows up on the subtitles as “Alex, this is the final lap.” Come on, Netflix.
Episode 9, “Over The Limit”
0:15: The dramatic music over the Red Bull team singing “Happy Birthday” to Max is killing me.
4:00: Wait, why is an Alfa Romeo car in the title sequence in what’s clearly about to be another Red Bull episode?
6:35: Wait a minute, Netflix/Will Buxton…Mercedes won the constructors’ championship in 2021 even though Max won the drivers’ championship. Would cost cap points penalties apply to individual drivers, who (presumably) don’t control the team’s spending? I feel like the stakes of Red Bull getting a 2021 points penalty are being overstated.
Though now I’ve given myself the mental image of Max poring over spreadsheets and doing the budget math, which I’m finding very amusing.
14:18: I feel a little bad for Checo. He won Singapore and didn’t get so much as a mention here.
14:49: “Your best result of the year.” Indeed it was for Daniel. BRB, gonna go cry.
15:23: In fairness to Max, drivers talk about Singapore as one of the toughest races of the year, just from the extreme heat, humidity, and length. He probably was actually tired from the race and not from cost cap drama.
16:02: “Right, let’s get a cup of tea” is the most British reaction possible to both rainy weather and bad news. Whether that bad news is your own doing or not.
19:03: I don’t want to discredit Max’s performance at Suzuka - it was really great in very challenging and scary conditions - but do feel like it’s worth noting that it’s easiest to be in front when it’s raining, just because you don’t have to deal with the spray from cars in front of you. That affects visibility more than the actual rain in most cases.
20:24: Okay, so we’re not talking about the confusion over Schrodinger’s WDC clinching, got it. At least we didn’t get a fake announcement at the end of the race that Max was the year’s champion?
21:09: Unexpectedly cute moment from Alonso taking a selfie with Max! You love to see it.
23:00: I’m genuinely unsure who I root for less in a public dispute between Zak Brown and Christian Horner. It’s like the Astros vs. Braves World Series from 2021 - everyone involved is awful.
25:43: Literal LOL at Horner playing the mental health card as a defense to overspending.
29:00: My reaction to Zak Brown saying “If you’re gonna dish it out, you gotta be prepared to take it” about Horner can be seen here.
31:13: I get that Netflix doesn’t attend every race, but it is getting a little stale seeing the same few races over and over, especially with repeated footage. Yes, Silverstone and COTA were good races. They did not make up half the season.
Episode 10, “End of the Road”
0:00: I’ve been told that there’s a Daniel tribute in this episode that’s making all his fans cry. Here we go…
0:20: Yup, confirmed we’re skipping straight to Abu Dhabi and ignoring all that Brazil had to offer. Cool, cool, definitely not a terrible choice on Netflix’s part.
0:37: I now have a lot of questions about why George Russell has four single beds in his hotel room.
1:29: Daniel, a man of culture, is intimately familiar with the collected works of Will Ferrell. We know how much he loves Ricky Bobby, of course, but the Anchorman reference is noted and appreciated.
4:17: Charles’ thousand-yard stare when the producer asks “How’s it been this year?” is both very relatable and more telling than anything he can actually say.
4:23: I know this one was Charles’ fault when many of Ferrari’s struggles were not at all on him, but his anguished scream after crashing out in France is still a heartbreaker. He knew it was over then.
7:51: Okay, at least we got an acknowledgement of George’s win in Brazil. Better than nothing, I suppose. But there was so much happening there! Magnussen on pole! (Before he lost places in the sprint and was then…yeeted out of existence on Lap 1 by a certain driver who may or may not be my favorite.) Max and Checo drama! Come on, Netflix, you’re killing me.
9:22: “They told me I can do whatever I want. When I see Carlos, put him in the wall.” Taking Max’s ability to get funny lines out when he’s just hanging with his fellow drivers as proof of my theory that he’s being intentionally boring in Netflix interviews.
10:05: So Abu Dhabi was…not actually all that exciting a race? Really unsure of how Netflix is going to play this one up, but the Charles-Checo battle didn’t really go anywhere (in part because of some brilliant defending from Lewis, which must have felt like karmic justice to him until he had to retire from the race).
13:13: Pretty sure the guy who shook Daniel’s hand on the right had “FEA” (aka “Fuck ‘em all”) written on his own hand. If so, that’s really sweet.
18:35: Another thing that didn’t get talked about much this season - just how often Alonso had reliability issues with his Alpine car. Several of the incidents were after he’d already decided to leave, so I’m not sure you can blame the reliability for him leaving, but it was a thing.
20:48: I’d forgotten about Charles channeling his inner Kimi Raikkonen on the radio with his race engineer! Respect.
23:12: Cringing a little at Binotto using “we” for next season when he got fired not long after. Yikes.
23:41: It wasn’t that important to final results and didn’t result in an overtake, I know, but I would’ve liked to see a little of Daniel holding off Seb in the final few laps for P9. I’m biased, yes, but it was one last battle between two amazing drivers.
27:04: “I mean, this show wouldn’t be the same without me, so what do you do?” Daniel is, of course, entirely correct.
27:10: This is where the “Goodbye, Daniel” montage starts. I’m not ready.
28:20: I’m somehow both laughing and crying at the same time. He’s just so endearing and funny and also such a good driver. I’ll miss him so much on the grid in 2023 and I hope that he both decides he wants to race again and finds the right place to do it. He has so much more to offer than we saw the last couple years and he deserves only good things.
28:27: “I carried myself well through this time.” He 100% did. Pure class and professionalism.
29:19: Oh no. Not the “For anyone who thought I left, I never left” line after winning at Monza. What a fucking gut punch.
29:25: Hello Las Vegas! I really hope next year’s debut race can actually live up to the hype.
29:50: Little weird to have Jost Capito so prominently in the “next year, Las Vegas” bit when he’s not staying as Williams team principal.
30:00: I don’t know if this was Seb’s choice or Netflix’s, and I respect it if it’s the former, but I do really wish we’d gotten a little more about Seb retiring. Yes, I know he got plenty of love from Formula One as a whole and his heyday was before DTS, but dude’s a legend and also seems like a genuinely good, funny dude who’s unafraid to speak up on what matters. I respect him so much and F1 won’t be the same without him.
30:36: “Why do you think Guenther wanted you?” “Probably my looks.” Nico Hulkenberg auditioning to be Season 6’s Daniel, and you know what, I respect it.
31:22: So we did get a mention of Magnussen on pole! Albeit a brief one at the end. Kevin deserved better.
Final thoughts
I didn’t enjoy that as much as past seasons, and I don’t know if it’s the show or me. On some level, by becoming a fairly committed F1 fan, I’ve taken myself out of the target audience of people who are new to F1 or casual fans, and I find myself nitpicking and wishing things I know happened got covered. But I also feel like the runtimes are shorter and we’ve gotten a lot more focused on team principals at the expense of the drivers. As funny as Guenther Steiner can be, I don’t watch for the bosses, y’know? It’s about the drivers and the racing.
See y’all next weekend for the 2023 Bahrain Grand Prix!