Criticism: F1 series on Netflix misses the competition – 02/04/2023 – Sport

“Will Red Bull be a target next year?” The question was directed at Toto Wolff, Mercedes’ F1 strongman, who usually smiles at two opportunities in a grand prix weekend: when Lewis Hamilton wins or when Red Bull makes a mistake. Don’t look for a third smile, not even when Tom Cruise visited did the team get one.

With his black turtleneck and 007 villain face, Wolff replied: “Everybody will be a target next year.”

This was the end of the fourth season of “F1: Drive for a Living”, but it is also the beginning of the fifth, leaving a feeling of “Empire (of Mercedes) Strikes Back” for the new year… But also using many resources of the “Rocky” franchise – there are flashbacks.

However, as much as the editors of the Netflix series are talented (and creative), the 2022 championship in the main category of motorsport did not help to provide the climate of revenge desired by Wolff (and by the producers).

If in the 2021 season —the one that aroused Wolff’s wrath— the championship was decided on the last lap, with Max Verstappen (Red Bull) overtaking Hamilton to become champion, the year 2022 was practically without emotion, with the same Verstappen conquering the bi-world with four races in advance, in a quiet start and practically without surprises.

If the viewer doesn’t remember anything, the impression when watching the series is that the dispute was much more difficult than it actually was (again, congratulations to the editors).

However, without the great antagonists Hamilton x Verstappen, Red Bull x Mercedes and, the most explored in the fourth season, Toto Wolff x Christian Horner, the fifth season is more bland, an aspect that is reflected in the duration itself. Despite maintaining the ten-episode format, “Driving to Live 5” has a total of 31 minutes less than the previous year, practically an entire chapter.

Interestingly, the FIA ​​itself tried to help turn the 2022 season into a multi-star war by making a radical change in the regulations, which, in theory, would bring the medium-sized teams closer to the big ones.

In practice, the only change was taking Mercedes out of the fight for the title, with a car that was born wrong, and putting Ferrari in its place, which seemed to have the best single-seater. However, the Italian team had a troubled season, losing races due to wrong decisions in the pits, which affected its most competitive driver, Charles Leclerc, who also started to make mistakes on the track.

Not to say that everything was flowers for Red Bull and Verstappen, the series tries to give weight in the end to the investigation against the team for bursting the budget cap. Nothing that would change the course of the driver and constructors title.

Incidentally, the big ball out of the fifth season was not exploring the small crisis between the Dutch driver and his partner, Sergio Pérez. The Mexican publicly complained about Verstappen’s lack of help in the fight for runner-up. The perrengue passed beaten.

Still, “DPV 5” has good side stories and behind-the-scenes crises to entertain fans of the category. Oh, and the series maintains the position of Gunther Steiner, the likable director of tiny Haas, as the show’s big individual star.

It’s also interesting to follow McLaren and Alpine fight each race to reach fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship; or musical chairs provoked by the announcement of Sebastian Vettel’s retirement, freeing up a vacancy in the promising Aston Martin.

Perhaps this fifth episode, called “Sorry my French”, is the best of the season. That’s when Fernando Alonso shows up. Having difficulty renewing with Alpine, largely due to his 41 years, the Spaniard receives an advantageous proposal to take over from Vettel, and he accepts.

In front of the cameras, a calm and experienced Alonso seems to know better than the others his own potential and how the paddock works. “In Formula 1 there are always good guys and bad guys, heroes and anti-heroes, I’m on the dark side,” he says. At the end of the episode, after Alpine’s unexpected departure, he adds: “I’m still the bad guy.”

This year, while Mercedes and Ferrari are still skating, Alonso has led Aston Martin to three podiums. It could be the “bad guy” (and charismatic) that the Netflix series needs for the next season.