Drive to Survive S8: The stakes have never been higher in Netflix's longest-running sports documentary series

Netflix’s Drive to Survive is back, returning for a new season that promises to provide fans with a behind-the-scenes perspective into the drivers and teams.

Eight years in, the sport is as demanding and pressurised as ever, with the series tasked to communicate all the unfolding and unpredictable drama that takes place across a 24-race calendar season.

"From our point of view, we have a very dedicated team of directors who go out on the ground, we have a really amazing edit team who gets cut all the material that comes through. It's sort of a 24-hour operation," Tom Hutchings, Executive Producer at Box to Box Productions, told Indy100.

Driver shake-up, enter six rookies

The 2025 season saw one of the biggest driver shake-ups, kick-started by Lewis Hamilton’s big move from Mercedes to Ferrari, which set the wheels in motion for "silly season", which led to the addition of six new rookies – Kimi Atonelli, Isack Hadjar, Liam Lawson, Ollie Bearman, Gabriel Bortoleto, and Jack Doohan – on the grid.

“It was an amazing time to be following people, given that things were just changing massively,” explained Hutchings, noting how the eight new driver pairings would affect the dynamic. The last time this happened was 15 years ago, as Clare Williams highlighted in the first episode “New Kids on Block”, as she noted it could be “utter carnage.”

Those growing pains among the six drivers with their respective cars and teams are clear to see, and is a narrative thread throughout the season, from shaky debut race performances in Melbourne, to episode two’s “Strictly Business” demonstrating the cutthroat nature of the sport as Flavio Briatore axed Jack Doohan in Miami, replaced by Franco Colapinto after six rounds following a tough start to the season. “I wasn’t able to enjoy being an F1 driver,” the Aussie candidly admitted, in what was one of the standout storylines of the series.

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“I think the rookies will gain good appreciation [from fans] for what they go through,” Tom said. “Because, as you see, it's tough out there. You have to prove yourself. You have to perform. You have to do it under the spotlight. Some of the sort of more experienced drivers who are double their age, they can do that with their eyes closed, because they've got 20 years of experience with it.”

He also noted how they’re thrown into a “journalistic and sort of showbiz world” that comes with being a Formula 1 driver in 2025. Afterall, the sport has over 827 million fans and growing, as it continues to capture the pop culture zeitgeist, which we see in this season off track at the F1 75 car launch event and the F1® The Movie premiere.

Part of their job is being interviewed for the show (minus Hamilton and Verstappen this season), which Tom describes why this experience can be “intimidating” for newbies.

“There are five cameras in there. There's a lot of lights. It's dark, so it's quite intimidating. And then there are quite a few people in there, but you can't really see them. You just see the whites in people's eyes. So it's like you're in this jungle with spider eyes around you. It's actually just a hotel room with some cameras in there, but it's intimidating.”

Antonelli and Hamilton adjusting to their new teams

Then there’s Kimi Antonelli, the 18-year-old who had big shoes to fill at Mercedes, in the form of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. The youngster had just passed his driving test when filming started, going from driving 30 miles to 300 kilometres an hour.

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Though both Antonelli and Hamilton experienced similar struggles adjusting to their new teams, as shown in episode 6 “The Duel”, where Ferrari and Mercedes are fighting for P2 in the Constructors’ championship. Will Buxton gave one of his classic one-liners: “Who will rise to the challenge, the kid or the GOAT?”

Team Principal drama

It wouldn’t be Drive to Survive without the team principals, and this season saw some new and familiar faces. In episode 2, “Strictly Business”, the contrasting leadership styles between bosses, Alpine’s old-school no-nonsense Flavio Briatore, and Stake Sauber’s Jonathan Wheatley, who leads with a supportive “positivity is the norm” outlook.

But the headliner was Red Bull’s Christian Horner. “You have to be the pantomime villain,” he quipped when met with a chorus of boos at the F1 75 car launch. The team’s poor performance, as seen in episode 4 “Bull With No Horns,” soon led to his departure after Silverstone – a big character that the series will no doubt miss, including rival, Toto Wolff. The Mercedes Team Principal, whose text was read out by Horner - “I didn’t know what to say, because on one side you’ve been a real a*****e. But on the other hand, the sport will miss one of its main protagonists. Who should I fight?” As viewers will no doubt similarly question who will fill this "pantomime villain" shaped hole.

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“He's [Horner] been in the show since day one. He's always been a supporter of our show as well, and to see him lose his job with Red Bull, for us have the access that we did with him throughout the year, and sort of chart then for him to be sacked after Silvestone that was pretty punchy stuff,” Tom said.

McLaren's driver dilemma

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As for McLaren, their drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri led the championship all season between them, but their “two No.1 drivers" stance was the hot topic of episode 3 “The Number 1 problem,” with the welcomed addition of F1 world champion Nico Rosberg. He provided insight into what the mental impact this can have from his experience at Mercedes battling it out against friend and teammate-turned-rival Lewis Hamilton, famously referred to as “Brocedes”. Although the awkward dynamic is covered, some F1 fans might be disappointed to see that the controversial Italian GP team order swap or banging of wheels on the first lap at the Singapore GP weren’t mentioned.

Carlos Sainz's incredible podium journey with Williams

When it comes to filming, Tom detailed how production must “back our horses slightly”, which sometimes doesn’t pay off, but when it does, it can come together beautifully – like in episode 5 “Sky’s The Limit” where we follow Williams, who are looking to rise back to the top with the addition of Carlos Sainz from Ferrari.

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However, in the first half of the season, Sainz was still getting to grips with the car and was being outperformed by teammate Alex Albon. “We were like, we've been filming this, this sequence for this story with Williams for weeks and weeks and months and months, and we're just like, ‘we haven't got an ending for it.’ And we were thinking, ‘when is that ending going to happen?’” Tom recalled. “Then, lo and behold, in Baku, Carlos goes and pulls it out of the bag and managed to get a podium.” So, filming all of Carlos’s ups and downs with the team on their journey, they “got the human side of the story out of it.”

F1's unpredictability and Max Verstappen's incredible momentary comeback

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If there is one thing you can guarantee in F1, it’s the unpredictability of the sport. Well, that and the fact you can never rule out Max Verstappen. The finale episode was “Call me Chucky” in reference to Verstappen’s response to Zak Brown comparing him to a "horror movie villain" who "keeps coming back”, going from 100 points behind to catching up for the McLaren drivers with a chance of getting his fifth title. Ultimately, Norris wins the championship in a season where, despite he’s had lapses in his confidence, he came out on top – those kinds of feelings Tom says “people can relate to."

Final thoughts, longevity and looking ahead

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All in all, the series was eight episodes long – two fewer than last season, and so if there was more time this season, it would’ve been good to gain more insight into Lewis Hamilton’s first season at Ferrari, perhaps from the perspective of Italians. Although George Russell's narrative arc took a backseat this season, his commentary on other matters, such as Kimi's performance and Horner's firing were just as entertaining.

Isack Hadjar was the surprise of 2025 with his remarkable rookie season at Visa Cash App Racing Bulls, from spinning out on the formation lap of his debut race to putting in solid performances at Racing Bulls, which have earned him the Red Bull second seat for 2026. In turn, this highlights the sport's unpredictability and backing horses, as previously mentioned, with the other Red Bull drama going on, this wasn't touched upon.

Speaking of next season, with the new regulation changes, everyone is starting from scratch, and then there’s the addition of new teams Audi and Cadillac, meaning the return of some favourite faces- Valtteri Bottas and Checo Perez. With all to play for, who knows what will happen?

As for DTS’s longevity, F1's audience continues to expand with a growth of 51 million in fans under 35 year-on-year, Tom believes “when we can bring out really relatable elements of what these guys do, and turn it into a human story, rather than a racing story. That's when DTS is at its best.”

Drive To Survive Season 8 is now available to watch on Netflix.

Elsewhere from Indy100, F1 is championing the next generation of young girls to enter the sport, and Former teacher praises Lando Norris after ex-student becomes F1 world champion.

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