Drive to Survive S7 review: The F1 feast after S6’s famine

When Christian Horner called Zak Brown a “prick” before the season had even started, you can just imagine the Netflix producers licking their lips.

With season six focusing on the historically dominant Max Verstappen show in 2023, 2024 was a refreshing change of pace. Netflix has been accused of tampering with the timeline and manufacturing narratives to make their series work but with season seven, there was no need for that movie magic.

Drive to Survive season 7 review: The feast after the season 6 famine

Drive to Survive is always going to be a series that lives and dies by the sport itself. A boring season will equal a boring series but when a year is so jam-packed with narrative as 2025 was, it naturally makes Drive to Survive compelling viewing.

The selling point of this Netflix behemoth has always been the step behind the velvet rope. Sky Sports and the like may film the drivers and team principals from the moment their passes ring through the paddock barriers but Netflix has the licence to follow them long after the circuit has disappeared into the rear view mirror.

That access, which is what has drawn so many fans to the sport, is there from episode one. A 47-minute delve into not only Lewis Hamilton’s shock move to Ferrari, but also the Christian Horner investigation bomb that exploded mere weeks before the season started.

It is that episode where Drive to Survive is at its best, showing Horner away from the spotlight, more wounded than his usual rent-a-quote self.

The Red Bull boss is so adept at painting targets on his enemy’s back but this investigation put him in the spotlight. It dominated the team’s car launch, it dominated pre-season testing and even with the investigation having come to a conclusion, it dominated the first race when during practice in Bahrain, the infamous dossier was leaked to members of the paddock – a moment that is excellently captured by the Netflix cameras.

But it would not be Drive to Survive unless heroes and villains were made. In 2025, the main characters are Red Bull and McLaren, Horner and Zak Brown but most of all, Lando Norris and Max Verstappen.

Norris, a first-time winner at McLaren, has long been a fan favourite of the Drive to Survive audience but Verstappen’s refusal to do sit-down interviews with Netflix plus his habit of winning every race made him the archetypal villain, a role that continues into season seven.

When Norris wins for the first time in Miami, he is seen laughing with even Red Bull staff in the cool down room but the camera cuts to Verstappen furious in the corner. Was this accurate? Almost certainly not. Verstappen hates losing but the Dutchman was one of those lavishing praise on Norris after the maiden win.

The Drive to Survive staples are there of course. Will ‘juxtaposition’ Buxton is again joined by Claire Williams while Jenson Button is on hand to provide ‘this is what a driver feels like’ interjections.

There is also the weird meetings between characters to set the scene like Zak Brown on the phone with his feet in the pool – I did not need to see his toes – or Toto and Susie Wolff meeting on the balcony of their Monaco residency where Toto says “Lewis is leaving” as if Susie had somehow missed the news.

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There is still the bending of the truth that has seen the series drawn criticism, such as a Mercedes-focused episode climaxing with George Russell’s win in Spa conveniently leaving out that he was later disqualified.

But thankfully, 2024 did not need too much of the unfaithful editing that previous years may have, the drama was there enough already. From Hamilton to Ferrari, the paddock’s most eligible bachelor in Carlos Sainz, Wolff’s pining after Verstappen, the Red Bull civil war and a number of other storylines, the success of this season is that every episode feels like a genuine look behind the scenes of the biggest stories from the paddock.

Drive to Survive will always have its detractors but for a series that lives and dies off its subject, season seven has proven to be the feast after season six’s famine.

Drive to Survive season seven will release globally on Netflix on March 7, 2025

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