Wolff hated watching Netflix’s Drive to Survive

Sam Cooper
A Drive to Survive Netflix cameraman

A cameraman for Netflix series Drive to Survive follows the Formula 1 season.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has admitted he hated watching Netflix’s Drive to Survive series and said it was “scary” how much access they have.

Plans for the wildly popular series were first announced in March of 2018 and the subsequent opening season of the show debuted on the streaming service the following year in the same month.

It became a hit and saw a mass influx of fans to the sport but there are those within the paddock who are not enthusiastic about some of the ways in which they were portrayed.

Reigning World Champion Max Verstappen refused to participate in the sit down interviews that make up the majority of the show as he believe the show creates “false narratives.”

Now Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has admitted when he first watched the show, he hated it.

“I’m watching this – episode one, episode two – and I hate it,” Wolff told the Irish Independent.

“Now we are participants. We gradually grew into this. I never wanted to have the camera in my face. It comes with my job and I need to talk about cars and the business side of Formula One. But suddenly you realise that it has become so big everywhere in the world with new audiences, younger audiences.”

The 50-year-old, whose relationship with his opposite number Red Bull’s Christian Horner has become a growing narrative of the show and is set to feature heavily in the upcoming season, said it was “scary” how close the cameras are let in.

“You hate to see yourself in there. They create a spin to the narrative. They put scenes together that didn’t happen. I guess you’d say as an insider, well, that’s different than how it was.

“But we’re creating entertainment, and that is a new dimension of entertainment.”

Wolff also commented on the ongoing situation in Ukraine and said while he was sad the Russian public would not be able to see drivers from their country under the Russian flag, he said they can not overlook the invasion.

 

“I’m sad for the Russian public that enjoyed watching Formula 1,” he said.

“And a population that maybe has no interest at all in geopolitics or any of that. But we as a society, we just can’t look over that.

“Even a sports team. We are commercially driven, and it’s an attractive location to race, but at a certain stage you have to say, ‘Up to here and no more.'”

PlanetF1 verdict

Wolff hated watching Netflix's Drive to Survive

The Netflix series has become quite a controversial topic within F1.