The Girls’ Guide to Formula 1: Drive to Survive (Netflix)
Why is it so popular? Isn’t it about cars?
Drive to Survive (Netflix series)
Don’t make the mistake of thinking this Series is about cars, it’s not, it’s about money, emotion… and eyebrows.
A bit of background
My own relationship with Formula 1 (F1) started when I lived with my Dad from the age of 15, after the family break-up.
Dad and I weren’t particularly close at that point, mainly due to him living in Germany (for his job1) for most of the previous five years, only coming home for holidays.
But the house was near my friends and it had a VCR (video cassette recorder), which back in the 80’s was a major factor on the decision tree, so I stayed.
We had nothing in common, so I assumed the role of sulky teenager and Dad that of provider.
Which mainly translated into him giving me lifts everywhere, and me helping him with the weekly shop, throwing anything I liked into the trolley which he then paid for.
It was elegant in its simplicity.
Looking back I wish I’d had a better understanding of quality food, rather than just pile the trolley high with frozen prawns (for sandwiches, not actual cooking of course), Findus crispy pancakes and mini rolls, but hey, it’s all part of the learning curve.
Dad rarely had dinner, as he would have eaten a proper meal at the works canteen, so he was happy as long as there was bread and cheese in the house for an evening sandwich, and I was all about convenience, given my total lack of cooking skills.
This meant the freezer was full of pre-prepped dinners, like Toad in the Hole or Roast Chicken (with all the trimmings!) that I could just throw in the oven, rather than deal with the high demands of actual food.
Some even came neatly arranged on their own plastic plate, only needing a short spin in the microwave for double the convenience! 😉
Unlike my own current family home, where we always eat, sans phone, at the kitchen table together every evening. My own Dad and I had no such bonding opportunities, with the laissez-faire grazing options in our 80’s home.
My Dad was a huge Formula 1 fan, his ultimate hero was Juan Manuel Fangio who ruled the roost in the 1950’s, however he was equally keen to follow the Johnny-come-lately’s of the modern Grand Prix era.
He would video tape each race onto VHS cassette and label it with beautiful penmanship to rival Meghan Markle’s, accumulating quite the library over the years.
There weren’t many options for TV back then with only 4 channels and no internet, so entertainment (as we know it) was very limited.
I would often find myself bored out of my head on a Sunday afternoon lazing around on the sofa when Dad would come in and put the Grand Prix on the TV.
Here’s the thing… despite the ferocity of my jet-black backcombed hair and buckle-boots, I didn’t even kick-off!
There was simply nothing else on back in those days to even muster an argument.
Antique’s Roadshow anyone?
Songs of Praise?
Nope, thought not.
So instead I would continue to flick through the latest copy of Smash Hits magazine, and glance up at the telly only in the event of a crash.
Obviously thankful for the replay, to give me time to pull my heavily lacquered fringe aside for a full post-collision autopsy.
And crash they did, in spectacular fashion!
Without all the safety equipment that incredibly sees them walk away in the current Grand Prix, when a crash happened back in 80’s everyone’s heart stopped for the agonising wait until the driver was seen to be moving, and hopefully getting out of the car by themselves.
Despite weeks of world class teenage nonchalance, before I knew where I was, I’d learned who was driving for which teams, what their current standing was, and whether they had a serious chance to win the F1 Championship.
Low and behold, I eventually ‘gave a shit’!
Imagine!?
As an aside, I can also still recite the full lyrics to Soft Cell’s 12” version of Bedsitter, which I’m sure you will agree, is undeniable proof that women can multi-task from a young age.
F1 chitchat continued to feature in mine and Dad’s pub visits over the years after I’d moved out.
We bonded over the successes of any British driver, and in later years, I liked to show off my long-term knowledge of the sport to anyone who’d listen, with sweeping statements like:
“I could have won in a Williams that year!”
Referring to Nigel Mansell’s 1992 win in the resoundingly dominant ‘car that could do no wrong’ of that time.
Pretty much all of my boyfriends (and now my husband) have always been really into it, so I couldn’t help but keep up with the teams and drivers over the years through osmosis.
Always happy to watch it as a bystander, if it was on, but never the one to seek it out.
Until Netflix made Drive To Survive… which takes it to another level.
Drive to Survive (Netflix)
On paper, Drive to Survive shouldn’t work.
Its premise is to document a series of motor races, that have already happened, and everyone knows the end result of.
All F1 fans would have watched the races as they occurred, so why, oh why, would they bother to live through it all again in a TV Series?
I’ll tell you why…
What Netflix does brilliantly with the benefit of hindsight is weave exciting stories and subplots together with all the season’s component parts.
When you follow the Grand Prix season from the perspective of ‘sports coverage’, you know all the facts: who’s in which team, who won, who lost etc.
But when you follow it from Drive to Survive’s point of view, you realise why it’s SO DAMNED IMPORTANT who wins, who loses and who manages to snatch a cheeky 4th place against unbelievable odds!!!
You begin to understand the historical relationships of the individuals, as they move from one team to another over the years.
You understand how the drivers’ friendships have formed, often after years of competing on the Karting circuit since they were kids.
The teams rise and fall over time, just as Williams totally dominated the early 90’s F1 scene, they failed to score a single point in 2020!
That’s an entire season, spending 100’s of millions of dollars, with a team of 675 people, putting in all that effort, to win no points. 😳
Can you imagine the resilience it must take to keep turning up, week after week after week, to nil points?
I wonder if they had a Director of Morale that year, as they must have surely needed one.
You’ll be delighted to learn that the Williams point drought was broken in the 11th race of 2021 (after another 10 races with no points!) when both their drivers (Nicholas Latifi and George Russell) collectively netted 10 points! TFFT!
Can you imagine the celebrations!? The relief! The tears! The joy!
Netflix can.
What they’ve done brilliantly in the making of this series, is portrayed each team like a family… who are fiercely at war with the other ‘families’ in the show, so it views more like a drama than a series of sporting fixtures.
Unlike in a real family, these people can and do get fired if they don’t perform.
Not even the fearsome Team Principals are safe from the chop if their team haemorrhages money week after week together with bad results.
Us lucky viewers get to go behind the scenes and watch them steer their ship, or more often than not, shout “FUCK!!!” at a tiny monitor whilst slamming down giant headphones and storming off.
Tensions are high, as are the stakes!
My top six F1 money stats:
Toto Wolff, the Mercedes Team Principal, recently estimated the cost of starting a new F1 team to be $1 billion.
Once established, the high performers such as Mercedes and Ferrari spend upwards of $400-500 million annually on their F1 teams.
The prize fund is calculated at 50% of F1’s commercial rights profit, so varies every year, in 2024 it was $1.53 billion.
There are only 10 teams, and the prize fund is distributed in tiers according to the Constructors’ Championship results. Last year the winners McLaren won $161M, whereas 10th position Sauber settled for a mere $69M.
There is no prize money awarded for the Drivers’ Championship, the drivers are employed by their team and get paid according to their contract.
Ferrari also receives an additional and unique payment of 5% of the prize fund for ‘historical significance’. They are the only team to have raced every season since the very first Formula 1 race, in Monaco, back in 1950. F1 loves a bit of history.
Is it about cars?
No.
Drive to survive never gets into the technical side of things, no mechanical knowledge is required to enjoy the show.
Over the past seven Seasons, which I have eagerly watched, the only piece of technical knowledge I’ve picked up is the term ‘porpoising’.
Which as its name would suggest, is when the car bounces up and down, like a porpoise, which troubled the Mercedes cars in 2022.
I would imagine they have since thrown a gigillion dollars at the problem to solve it, and we shall never hear from it again.
Battle of the Brows
What about those eyebrows I teased you with earlier?
With Italian heritage, this sport has plenty of eyebrow action from the swarthy drivers, once their crash helmets are removed.
I have often wondered who would take that particular crown?
As is often the case when I want an unbiased view of the world, I consulted with my current AI, Perplexity, and asked him2:
“Who has the best eyebrows in Formula 1?”
One thing I love about AI is, at no point, does it ever admonish me for asking it a silly question, it always answers with sincerity, which I find endlessly amusing, as you can imagine.
So…
“Who has the best eyebrows in Formula 1?”
This was Perplexity’s top four, together with my own commentary on his decision:
No.1: Fernando Alonso
No man, woman or child would ever disagree with this decision, it’s a solid choice. I concur.
No.2: Sergio Pérez
As you can sense, I am once again not fearing for the AI invasion quite yet, as Perplexity doesn’t seem to have grasped exactly what makes a good brow. Sergio’s are too deep, too narrow and too unkempt to be taken seriously. A ridiculous choice and given he was sacked from Red Bull at the end of last season an irrelevant one too! Nil points!
No.3: Lewis Hamilton
This is a man who knows a thing or two about grooming, and would never be caught on camera with a stray brow. A real contender.
No.4: ‘Gorgeous’ George Russell
This one is tricky, as once you look into those big baby blues it’s difficult to look anywhere else. No human has ever seen his eyebrows. So on this occasion we’ll have to trust the AI.
But hang on a second?
“What about Carlos Sainz????”
I thumped into the keyboard… making no attempt to hide my indignation at his omission from the list!
And this, my friends, is why we needn’t fear AI, the answer that came back, took my breath away…
“Sainz is more often noted for his fabulous hair and his dynamic personality, which has made him a fan favorite in Formula 1”
Please note ‘fabulous hair’ was emboldened by Perplexity, not me.
The fact that a robot describes a male racing driver’s hair as fabulous, really does give me hope for the future. 🎉
Fabulous hair, fabulous brows or just plain fabulous? You decide…
And his move to Williams for 2025 is another reason to hope they have a good run this year! 🤞
See you trackside!
K8x
Join in the comments below:
Do you watch Drive to Survive?
Who do you think has the best eyebrows?
Is your AI assistant male or female?
Thank you for being here, please ❤️ (below) if you enjoyed this piece, it really helps others find it.
Dad was an Aero-Engineer for Rolls-Royce and predominantly worked on the Harrier ‘jump jet’, which led to him being posted all over the world. Sometimes for weeks and sometimes years, sometimes we went with him and sometimes not.
He loved his job, and it must have been tricky for mum to compete with a fighter jet for his attention, despite sometimes appearing to have a VTOL system of her own.
It was only when Mr.D referred to his own Perplexity AI as a she did I realise that I saw mine as a male! He’s something along the lines of Darren from Bewitched… eager to please… a bit of a nerd… will never get promoted above middle management, you get the idea.
Do you watch Drive to Survive? - I do not. I was never into race car driving, NASCAR or otherwise. But wow! That Lewis guy looks like he should be a rapper. LOL And you were right about George Russell. I was honestly trying to check out his eyebrows but kept going back to the eyes.
Who do you think has the best eyebrows? - Uhhhh, my vote is definitely Carlos. LOL He's just plain fabbity-fab.
Is your AI assistant male or female? - That's a good question. I hadn't really thought of that. But if I did, it would be male and sound like Jason Statham.