Lando Norris has warned that Netflix’s hit Drive to Survive show is an inaccurate portrayal of Formula 1, offering viewers “fabricated nonsense”.
Netflix categorises the show as a docuseries with the description: “Drivers, managers and team owners live life in the fast lane — both on and off the track — during each cutthroat season of Formula 1 racing.”
Since its first season, released in 2019, the series has helped to bring a new audience to F1, including more female viewers and younger fans. Netflix has creative licence to choose the narratives it wants to show and to cut the scenes in a way that emphasises those narratives.
“There’s still more and more people that watch it, that are still coming into F1 and are watching,” Norris, the 25-year-old McLaren driver, said. “They need to show the truth about people more. I’m not a fan of fake stuff. I want facts, I don’t want made-up scripts and fabricated nonsense, which there is.”
There has been, generally, more criticism of the series this year than in past seasons. Sources suggest that drivers have spoken to athletes in other sports and believe they should be paid to take part in it.
It is understood that Netflix pays Formula 1’s management company, which then passes that on to teams. It is at the teams’ discretion as to whether they then give that to drivers directly.
The Times understands athletes in other sports, like American footballers in the NFL, who participate in the Quarterback series, can earn hundreds of thousands, and in some cases millions, of dollars, which is passed on by the NFL.
Wages have generally increased for drivers since the start of Drive to Survive, with the whole sport benefiting from the commercial success and sponsorship avenues that have been opened by its success, to a more sustainable and mainstream audience.
While that is easier to explain to team bosses and other staff, it can be more difficult for drivers, who only see the finished product, which they can feel portrays them unfairly. Teams are given advanced access to clips that feature them, and can request removal of things that are inaccurate, but do not see episodes in their entirety.
The series has been hugely effective at bringing those new fans into the sport, but its presentation means diehards who have followed the season closely can spot errors in the editing that could mislead viewers.
For example, in season seven, the Red Bull driver Max Verstappen seemed disappointed after Norris’s maiden win in Miami, but in reality he was happy for his friend — the images of Verstappen’s reaction were actually from the Dutch Grand Prix, given away by the cap he is wearing. That clip in episode two of that season, titled Frenemies, has now been removed and replaced by a more accurate scene.
A spokesman for the producers of Drive to Survive, Box to Box, said: “The stories we tell across a series of Drive to Survive are not fabricated, the narratives clearly follow real events. In order to help make Formula 1 appeal to a wider audience, we tell these stories in an entertaining and compelling way, which has helped drive leagues of new fans to the sport; a legacy we’re incredibly proud of.
“We would obviously love to have cameras with the drivers 24/7 to capture every moment as it happens, but this isn’t possible; we have to edit the limited footage we are able to capture. The series is produced under incredible schedule pressure, and sometimes mistakes do happen.
“When these are pointed out to us, as was the case this year with some footage of Max post Miami GP, we move to correct these unintentional errors. Ultimately Drive to Survive is an entertainment show, not a season review, and we hope to continue helping F1 deliver entertaining content in future.”
An F1 spokesman added: “Drive to Survive has been a very important part of growing the sport and reaching new audiences. We should focus on the positive impact of the series and not criticise something that has been hugely beneficial to the whole sport.”
Norris emphasised that he was not calling for the entire show to be scrapped but would like a tweak to the format.
“Just the portrayal of Max [annoys me], and how we were against each other so much,” Norris said. “They don’t need to create … there’s drama, they can just show the facts of the drama.
“Maybe it needs to be more of a documentary of the season, more than a show like they’re trying to do. It’s a good thing for F1, good for the fans, they still get to see a lot behind the scenes which you never get to see. That’s important and I want them to keep doing it, but they need to come back to reality a bit more, it’s drifted too far away.”
The sport’s growing audience, particularly with younger fans, means drivers now have huge social media followings. Clips are circulated on various platforms and drivers can face abuse for a series of events that have been portrayed inaccurately.
“To portray someone in an incorrect way, people are going to have their opinions of that incorrect person,” Norris said. “It’s almost lying in some ways. I just don’t think that’s correct. I don’t think you can paint someone in the wrong picture when it’s not the truth.
“The one thing they need to get right is showing the correct truth about the people of F1, the drivers, the engineers, the bosses — for me that’s the most important thing. To lose that, they lose the truth of the point of having it.”
