Netflix - Drive To Survive

bizmarkiefader

As someone who is casually interested in F1 and keeps up with some of the big headlines but never got fully into it this was incredible. The amount of drama in this sport is unbelievable and you'd never know it from how predictable the race results seem to be. Between what happened to Haas in that first episode to Lance Stroll to the Riccardo move there's so much interesting shit happening behind the scenes I wish we had a better look at while the season is going. It's a really honest and uncensored look that's pretty shocking these teams even let happen. You don't need to know anything about the sport going into this and I think anybody should give it a shot. I wish we could do this for the NFL.

mylifeaskirk

I loved it. I’m baseline familiar with racing but not much for F1 outside of “Its Ferrari, Mercedes, and everyone else”. I’m sure we miss a ton by just seeing the series and not knowing real
stories but it got me to a point where I checked the Australian GP leaderboard a few times this weekend.

My wife - not really a sports person - actually turned me checking one episode out into a weekend binge.

mylifeaskirk

bizmarkiefader said:

You don't need to know anything about the sport going into this and I think anybody should give it a shot. I wish we could do this for the NFL.

Have you watched Hard Knocks? Only one team but really well done.

bizmarkiefader

@mylifeaskirk Hard Knocks is fine for what it is but I've never found it anywhere near as good as this series was.

DtS had a pretty shocking amount of access and honesty from people I wouldn't have expected it from.

Another good formula 1 resource is a podcast called Shift+F1 that's super entertaining. It's made by Giant Bomb adjacent people and used to be hosted on that site, but it's been independent since Drew left GB. Before this show I mostly followed the season by background listening to the podcast occasionally. Every year they do a really good intro to F1 podcast where they go over how it works and who everybody is. It's a really beginner friendly podcast.

Hunkulese

bizmarkiefader said:

As someone who is casually interested in F1 and keeps up with some of the big headlines but never got fully into it this was incredible. The amount of drama in this sport is unbelievable and you'd never know it from how predictable the race results seem to be. Between what happened to Haas in that first episode to Lance Stroll to the Riccardo move there's so much interesting shit happening behind the scenes I wish we had a better look at while the season is going. It's a really honest and uncensored look that's pretty shocking these teams even let happen. You don't need to know anything about the sport going into this and I think anybody should give it a shot. I wish we could do this for the NFL.

F1 has been really good for a couple of years now of giving behind the scenes access, and we do see most of the behind the scenes drama as it's going on. Drive to Survive did a great job of presenting last year in ten easy to digest episodes, but it didn't really present a lot of unknown information. I don't know what kind of coverage you have, but the pre and post race stuff that Sky shows is really, really good.

The behind the scenes stuff is almost essential to enjoying F1 since the podium can often be decided in qualifying and the first turn. If you don't know the drama between Hulkenberg and Magnussen, how much are you going to care when you see them battling for 9th? It adds so much more when you know what's going on at Red Bull when Ricciardo rear ends Verstappen.

Look at last weekend's Australian GP. If that was your first taste of F1, it probably came across as an extremely boring race where the dude won the first corner then went on to win by 20 seconds. If you know all the stories, it was probably the best Australian GP we've had for a while.

bizmarkiefader

@Hunkulese That's good to hear, it seemed shocking coming from mostly watching American sports where players or coaches get raked over the coals for saying anything more interesting than basic obvious cliches.

Hunkulese

bizmarkiefader said:

@Hunkulese That's good to hear, it seemed shocking coming from mostly watching American sports where players or coaches get raked over the coals for saying anything more interesting than basic obvious cliches.

If you're itching for more, Amazon did an even more in-depth documentary on McLaren last year called Grand Prix Driver.  I doubt it would have quite as wide an appeal of Drive to Survive, but it's still excellent.

Landscraping

If you liked this be sure to check out Le Mans Racing is Everything on Amazon Prime. Much shorter series but well done. I know there’s a least one or two F1 drivers that run that race. 

michielterlouw

My favourite F1-podcast: https://missedapexpodcast.com/

Good insights AND funny (if you enjoy banter)

michielterlouw

Hunkulese said:

bizmarkiefader said:

As someone who is casually interested in F1 and keeps up with some of the big headlines but never got fully into it this was incredible. The amount of drama in this sport is unbelievable and you'd never know it from how predictable the race results seem to be. Between what happened to Haas in that first episode to Lance Stroll to the Riccardo move there's so much interesting shit happening behind the scenes I wish we had a better look at while the season is going. It's a really honest and uncensored look that's pretty shocking these teams even let happen. You don't need to know anything about the sport going into this and I think anybody should give it a shot. I wish we could do this for the NFL.

F1 has been really good for a couple of years now of giving behind the scenes access, and we do see most of the behind the scenes drama as it's going on. Drive to Survive did a great job of presenting last year in ten easy to digest episodes, but it didn't really present a lot of unknown information. I don't know what kind of coverage you have, but the pre and post race stuff that Sky shows is really, really good.

The behind the scenes stuff is almost essential to enjoying F1 since the podium can often be decided in qualifying and the first turn. If you don't know the drama between Hulkenberg and Magnussen, how much are you going to care when you see them battling for 9th? It adds so much more when you know what's going on at Red Bull when Ricciardo rear ends Verstappen.

Look at last weekend's Australian GP. If that was your first taste of F1, it probably came across as an extremely boring race where the dude won the first corner then went on to win by 20 seconds. If you know all the stories, it was probably the best Australian GP we've had for a while.

Indeed. Kyvat keeping Gasly behind him.... you gotta know some of their history to really appreciate that.

Or Bottas making his "to whom it may concern" statement

Or Leclerc not being allowed (?) to battle Vettel.

Or Bottas going for fastest lap against his team manager's instructions.

Or Verstappen catching up with Vettel on a straight part of the track, and what it means for Honda.

A Renault engine blowing up.

Williams going slower in qualifying than last year, whereas every other team improved.

We need an F1 thread for the next race :-)