Drive To Survive Review
Returning for its sixth season of behind-the-scenes action, this season took a deeper dive and gave viewers exclusive, intimate access into the lives of drivers, teams, and the politics involved in fighting for championship points.
The 10-episode season aired on the 23rd of February which was the last day of pre-season testing.
Drive To Survive has done wonders for F1’s popularity and expanding demographic, so the docuseries made by Box to Box Films is already filming the seventh season.
Females In Motorsport
Females In Motorsport research shows that women spoke for 3.1% of Season 6. Women totalled just under 14 minutes of speaking time out of a running time of seven and a half hours across the 10 episodes.
Across all 60 episodes of Drive to Survive, women have spoken for slightly over an hour in total. The organisation released that this is just 2.65% of the more than 39-hour run time.
This shows significant change as Season 5 only featured six minutes of women’s speaking time, just 1.5% of the total runtime.
In the newest season, Clair Williams appeared as a pundit alongside former INDYCAR driver and Sky Sports F1 presenter Danica Patrick.
Susie Wolff is one of the other women who feature in Season 6, she is named on screen as the director of F1 Academy and the only other women to be named on screen were Gertraud Steiner and Reyes Vasquez de Castro.
Episode-By-Episode Guide
Episode 1- Money Talks
This episode centred around Aston Martin and their aspirations for the 2023 season and more closely followed Lawrence Stoll’s reaction to son Lance Stroll’s bicycle accident that nearly left him unable to take part in the Bahrain Grand Prix, and the team’s impressive podium performances in the first races of the year.
Episode 2 - Fall from Grace
The second episode focused on how brutal and competitive Formula 1 can be with Nyck de Vries’s rookie campaign racing for AlphaTauri. Following an impressive drive for Williams the previous season while filling in for Alex Albon and scoring points at his F1 debut, the episode recalls his impressive racing history. However, a series of unsatisfactory results for bosses at Red Bull and AlphaTauri leaves De Vries replaced by Daniel Ricciardo mid-season following an impressive test lap at Silverstone after the British Grand Prix.
Episode 3 - Under Pressure
Episode 3 takes a closer look at the mid-season turnaround McLaren were able to achieve in 2023, it follows Norris as he questions the next step in his career and the episode culminates with a mid-season upgrade bringing an impressive performance jump for the team at Silverstone. A P2 and P4 finish to the home crowd is enough to prove to Norris that the team is on the right path and renewed his contract.
Episode 4 - The Last Chapter
The fourth episode shifts to focus the teams at the back of the grid, Haas and Williams Racing. In this episode, James Vowles is in focus as he takes up his new position managing the Williams team, the struggles faced by the new principal as he attempts to modernize and bring the team back into to the competition. This episode focuses on the improvement for Williams and a lack of pace and reliability for Haas which quickly switches things around and leads Haas into crisis as they sit last at the back of the grid.
Episode 5 - Civil War
“Civil War” centred on Alpine as personalities clashed within the team, with Pierre Gasly joining to complete the all-French lineup for the Enstone-based team. The episode takes a look through the history of both Esteban Ocon and Gasly, their relationship presents as pretty fractious at times and a potential issue for the team. With both drivers keen to be number one they collide following a race restart at the Australian GP, leaving the team without points which caused problems for principal Otmar Szafnauer.
Episode 6 - Leap of Faith
Episode 6 gives the fans an insight into the struggles of Mercedes and the inner-conflict Lewis Hamilton faced regarding his future with the team. Throughout the episode the performance of the Mercedes team is called into question while Toto Wolff fights to retain Hamilton. While Hamilton does eventually sign a new contract with the team, the recent news of the British driver moving to Ferrari in 2025 overshadows this.
Episode 7 - C’est la Vie
Episode 7 continues with the Alpine principal under pressure from bosses at the team following a turbulent start to the season. The earlier crash in Australia was followed by a double DNF at Silverstone and the two drivers colliding in Hungary. The team eventually made the move to drop their team principal mid-season, and it’s clear from what is shown that this was anything but a mutual agreement, with a visibly upset Szafnauer seen talking to others in the paddock following the news. The episode finishes with Gasly’s podium at the Dutch Grand Prix.
Episode 8 - Forza Ferrari
This episode shows the behind-the-scenes of Ferrari. It shows new principal Frédéric Vasseur and the pressures faced by the new boss and the team’s struggles in the opening races of the season. However, with an impressive qualifying in Monza and the only non-Red Bull win of the season in Singapore, hopes are high for the team moving into the new season.
Episode 9 - Three’s a Crowd
This episode picks up from Episode 2, with Daniel Ricciardo now in a seat at the Red Bull sister team however it doesn’t last long as during practice at the Dutch GP, the driver suffered a broken wrist that left him out of action and the team calling on Liam Lawson to take his place. The team are left with a potential dilemma over their lineup, with the teams not shy of the fact that AlphaTauri is there to nurture future Red Bull drivers. The episode finishes with a meeting between Christian Horner and Liam Lawson, where Horner assures the young Kiwi driver that his time will come.
Episode 10 - Red or Black
The final episode of the season brings the glamour of Vegas to our screens and the battle to P2 in the constructors between Mercedes and Ferrari. It is shown just how the damage Sainz sustained by a rogue drain cover affected his weekend, and potentially, vital points in the battle with Mercedes. The attention then turns to the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi. In the end, Mercedes claim P2 in the constructors from Ferrari.
- by Lizzy Oxendale
