Drive to Survive

flazio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118787427#Comment_118787427

Yep, "Additional commentary" is from the Channel 4 and BBC Radio 5 Live commentators, in the former instance series 1-3 is Ben Edwards and Series 4 is from Alex Jaques. Jack Nicholls is on all seasons They have to do this record after the fact because in the case of the Haas for example, the live TV is focused further up the field and therefore there are no commentary pieces for Netflix to use.

Longing

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118787427#Comment_118787427

Why Verstappen will not take part in the series considers it faked. Buxton was a real pain in the ass this year talking to the Netflix viewers if there were five years of age. Shambles especially the final episode nothing we didn't see already. Hoping to see behind the scenes after the race and days after the championship.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118787427#Comment_118787427

Ah yeah. That's a fair observation. It's meant for non fans or very casual fans. I've a few friends who are conversant in F1 now because they watched DTS. Its best to look.at it as a drama that's based, pretty closely, on the actual events. But I wouldn't expect it to be totally accurate. Nor would I expect them to include boring details just because they're true. It's an entertainment show.

Gaoth Laidir

I was also disappointed with it. The scripted conversations of e.g. Horner and Haliwell walking hand-in-hand through their huge garden "casually" discussing whether Max will win or not, etc. were cringeworthy.

I knew Toto is a complete dick but I hadn't realised Horner is not much better. Both of them need to be taken down a peg or two.

Mazepin is/was an asshole, and he confirmed it. Good riddance to him and his father and fair play to Haas for cutting off the hand that feeds them like that.

Tsunoda needs to just calm tf down a bit. Maybe his second year will do that.

Russell is insufferable but I am looking forward to the dynamic with Lewis this year. Lewis will be pining for Bottas to come back a few races in, I reckon.

I did like the fact that more radio messages were played out and were accompanied by the live pictures. We don't see that live.

JustJoe7240

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118788083#Comment_118788083

As you would assume. The formula one group is an entertainment company.

Charlie-Bravo

I watch all races live, and I also enjoyed watching DTS when doing a drama-based review of the previous season. What I do not like are the huge gaps in info on DTS, and makes driver's (like Max) seem more of the villain than he really is. Can't understand Lewis mentioning that he had the corner in Silverstone because he had a wheel along the sidepod...he did get a soft penalty (IMO), although DTS make it seem like it was his corner and wasn't in the wrong - the people who watch DTS and not follow F1 fully will be influenced by such comments and think Max was completely in the wrong.

So I do watch DTS to confirm that anyone who has an opinion on F1 based solely on watching DTS, is not an opinion worth the time listening to.

Watching Max suffering in the car after the big hit wasn't at all shown at any stage during the year post race. Even Lando's hit in Spa being similar. I am wondering if the clips are lengthened in any way to heighten the seriousness of it? It'd be interesting to listen to raw audio.

Burkie1203

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118788413#Comment_118788413

The Merc lads revelling in Max being pit in Hospital left a sour taste

By Lewis' standard, Max was ahead on several other tracks and got penalties for them

For Forks Sake

I would gladly watch an entire series of Gunther Steiner being followed by cameras, man's a legend and far removed from the pampered existence of Wolff/Horner

blade1

Just started season 4 last night.

Loved the first 3 seasons but I'm struggling with this.

Watched one episode and don't seem to have the appetite for anymore.

Is it me or what?

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118797581#Comment_118797581

Nope it's not you. It is a hard watch. I watched the first two episodes and just wanted to see episode 3 but my free Netfliks is gone now so I do not really care. You never know what you have till it's gone or in this case never really care. Its a bit like Netfliks rubbish. Neither of them would be missed if they were to stop been made or go bust.

blade1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118798588#Comment_118798588

I might give it another go at some stage but when I saw Horner and the missus on the horses I thought ,what's this a Hello magazine TV special or something 🙄

Larbre34

I've been binge watching it the last two days with Covid on the sofa and it's keeping me entertained.

Im getting near the end and the build up to Abu Dhabi is enjoyable.

Also the sheer, unabashed hatred between Toto and Horner is hilarious.

blade1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118798618#Comment_118798618

Its the Horner and Wolff stuff that I have no interest in.

But then again I don't care much for Red Bull or Mercedes.

Larbre34

To be honest I haven't had an allegiance in F1 for donkeys years. I'd like to see Riccardo go well because he's a good lad, but other than that all I want is close racing and a bit of scandal and DTS fulfills the latter in a way you don't hear about during the season. I enjoy DTS more than I expected to.

My favourite bit has been the antics of Nikita and Dimitry Mazepin with Haas and knowing they both just got sanctioned out of existence in F1, the pair of useless ignorant ****.

eviltimeban

I think the issue for fans (and I assume people on here are fans) is that the first few seasons had the novelty and wow factors. And it got your mates talking about F1 again.

Now though, the show has done it's job, and it doesn't seem to have a role anymore. Even if they changed it somehow it might make it more interesting, but the interviews are all shot the same way and it's just a repeat of what's gone before.

Dont be at yourself

The best and worst thing about Drive to Survive is that it's intentionally not a season review, but a series of stories that take place during the season. That means chronology is all over the shop, some interesting events are omitted or glossed over, and storylines are shaped and framed in a sometimes inaccurate way. It has incredible behind-the-scenes access that die hard fans would love to dive deep into, but uses it to surface stories and narratives for the more casual fan.

That said, I did love a few bits of season 4:

- The Mazepin episode was great. Really framed how much of a prick he was. I'd say Gunther was delighted to get rid of them this season.

- Tsunoda and his immaturity -- obviously we got glimpses of it via radio messages, but it was fascinating to see that off-track as well.

- There were a few moments behind-the-scenes with Hamilton at Merc; joking that the team always credit the car and not his driving, or bitching about Red Bull, stewards etc. This was a different, more honest and more likeable Hamilton. I think a lot of what gets people's backs up is his media-trained faux humility. Would be nice to see more of the real Lewis.

blade1

Ok, I'm going to give it another go. 🤞

RoryMac

Liked the idea from one of the engineers that the reason Tsunoda speaks like he does on the radio is that he learnt most of his English from being around the mechanics so every 2nd word was a curse

quokula

Pretty poor season overall. I can forgive them editing stuff for dramatic effect (showing a different track or corners in a different sequence or whatever) when it helps to emphasise the story they're telling. But so much of this was just teams setting up completely fake scenarios so they could play out a script in front of the Netflix camera to make themselves look good. It was most obvious with Mercedes where not a single truthful word came out of anyone's mouth at any point, and with Williams too and all the fake shenanigans about Russel's contract.

Some stuff was better, they caught Horner's genuine reactions and emotions frequently and McLaren and Haas were covered well. Tsunoda was probably the highlight, though the other half of that episode with Ocon was handled fairly poorly I thought, creating weird false equivalences between the two and not devoting enough time to Ocon's victory on its own merits, or the roll Alonso played.

Speaking of Alonso, it was really noticeable that most of the biggest names on the grid, from Alonso to Vettel to Raikkonen, basically didn't feature. Ferrari were mostly only ever really mentioned as an aside while they talked about McLaren. And the world champion didn't take part of course, though they had plenty of second-hand footage to fill in that gap.

PHG

I enjoyed it. Not a fan of Horner and of all the people interviewed he plays to the camera the most. Every show needs a dramatic person and his character adds to F1.

Really like the CEO of McLaren and will support them this year. I never liked Ricarrdo but he came across well this year and felt sorry for him, hence supporting this year.

Cannot stand Russell. He basically seems like the English banking guys I worked with in London, full of crap and a general so and so. I can see he surpassing Lewis this year.

It is crap Max doesn’t interview and bad form tbh. Would have liked to see more about Vettel and the others than the constant build up to the end of the season

thefa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118798772#Comment_118798772

Imagine one of the main functions of the show for Liberty Media is gaining new fans and you really need the latest season for that so it’s job mightn’t be done for a while yet!

Gusser09

Yes something they should consider doing is having a weekly episode of the current sesson instead. I'd like to see more of the lesser drivers and teams. Thats a lot more interesting.

flazio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118807960#Comment_118807960

It takes time to edit, interview, additional commentary etc. Impossible to put that sort of content out in the space of a week.

eviltimeban

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118807869#Comment_118807869

But it might be in danger of losing as many viewers too, especially longer term F1 fans.

thefa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118808378#Comment_118808378

Those F1 fans would likely keep watching the sport though even if giving up on DTS so it’s not really a loss to Liberty if it’s drawing in more fans of the main product. At some point it may stop being viable to Netflix if the viewership stagnates and declines but can’t see that happening so soon. I think that a lot of us here will be tuning in again next season too so we can get a few snippets and have a moan!

Definitely agree to your original point that the novelty and quality has worn off at this stage for people who follow seasons race by race but still think it has a key function in enticing new fans, especially in North America.

Longing

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-plans-talks-netflix-drivers-dts-fake-drama/9245374/

F1 to talk to Netflix over fake drama and distort from the truth too much.

“We will also talk to Netflix, because it is necessary that the story does not move away from reality, otherwise it no longer fits.

About Time.

awec

Just finished season 4 today. Felt it was the weakest season so far as there was so much obvious scripting and attempts at creating drama which never felt so obvious in previous seasons. Some of Toto Wolff's lines were so bad it was obvious some producer had written them down and asked him to read them and he was struggling to stop smirking.

The George Russell / Valteri Bottas contract part was especially awful. I would imagine even a viewer with absolutely no F1 knowledge or motor sport understanding would have found it so incredibly obvious what the outcome was going to be, there was no suspense at all.

Was also surprised that the drama after Abu Dhabi was completely ignored, as if it never happened.

Gamb!t

Just started watching this (season 1) which is pretty good.

For Forks Sake

Two more seasons confimed:

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-netflix-agree-to-two-more-seasons-of-drive-to-survive/10290504/

MadYaker

Wrong thread