Welcome to the sixth season of “Formula 1: Drive to Survive.” This season has brought many exciting new challenges and opportunities for teams to show everyone what they got, but this doesn’t always mean that they will come out on top.
This season had three brand new rookies joining. That included Australian McLaren driver Oscar Piastri, Dutch AlphaTauri driver Nyck De Vries and American Williams driver Logan Sargeant.
This new season has some notable additions to their grid list. Not included since the 1980s, the brand-new Las Vegas Grand Prix is now underway and made the list. This makes the championship’s 73-year history season the longest racing season to date.
Now including the Las Vegas track in the mix, this puts the United States on top with the most Formula 1 Grands Prix, including the other two tracks, Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas and the Miami Grand Prix in Miami. We can now get the season started.
The first few episodes showed how the season didn’t start great for Aston Martin because second driver Lance Stroll got into a bike accident and broke both wrists and some toes at the start of the preseason. Not the best way to enter the season, especially since the most important features on your body for a Formula 1 driver are their hands and feet.
That didn’t stop Stroll from being there for the start of the season in Bahrain to carry home a Position (P) 6 finish, scoring some much-needed points for his team, as well as a P3 podium finish for teammate Fernando Alonso. Aston Martin is a team to beat and starts the season off great and continues to strive throughout the season.
Some teams do not have the same luck as Aston Martin and struggle in the very beginning. Ferrari, one of the best teams in Formula 1 history, struggled at the beginning with a Didn’t Finish Race position (DNF) for first driver number 15 Charles Leclerc.
To add to the list, McLaren, Alpine, Mercedes and AlphaTauri are struggling to keep up the pace with everyone else on the grid. There was a very slow start for McLaren, starting with a five-pit-stop race for number four Lando Norris, which led him to a P17 finish, and a DNF for teammate and rookie number 81 Piastri.
In his rookie debut, Piastri had to retire his car due to a steering wheel malfunction, but this did not stop them from believing in their team and believing that they could overcome their obstacles. Netflix reviewed Silverstone, the British Grand Prix, as the first race McLaren showed their true talent with a P2 finish from Norris at his home race, and with a brilliant P4 finish from Piastri.
To make a more interesting fight, Alpine has shown that their car could perform under certain conditions, but its downfall the rest of the season is due to the driver rivalry. On many occasions, it gave them chances to come out on top, but the competition got in the way. The team was underperforming and it got to a point where, in the middle of the season, Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer was asked to step down and leave the team, which is unheard of.
On a brighter note, Netflix showed the only non-Red Bull driver to win a race, Spanish Ferrari driver number 55 Carlos Sainz. This is where we really saw Ferrari strive this season and see the denomination they needed. This also showed a P2 finish from Norris and a P3 finish from seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.
The show demonstrated that they focus more on the difficulties of the drivers and teams to make a more interesting show for viewers to get involved in team drama. “Drive to Survive” allows us to understand how the teams work under pressure and if they are up for the challenge. Based on how the season was portrayed, the show allowed viewers to see the ups and downs of the reality of how Formula 1 is evolving each year.
4/5 stars
jbarnes5@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of @f1, Instagram
