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The 10 new episodes offer behind the scenes
insight into the 2021 season, one of grand prix racing's most
exciting and closely-fought championships.
"I think it's a great partnership," Greg Maffei, CEO of Formula
One's U.S.-based owners Liberty Media, told analysts in a recent
conference call.
"It's been a win all the way around. Clearly grown our sport,
not only in the U.S. but around the world. It is a great thing
for Netflix as well. So I hope the marriage continues for a long
time."
Cumulative television viewership in the United States was up 58%
year-on-year in 2021, according to F1 figures, with 400,000 fans
making the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, the best attended
race of last season.
A second U.S. race, in Miami, debuts in May and U.S.-based
sponsors, such as Red Bull's new title partner Oracle, are
increasingly prominent.
The Netflix partnership has had its critics, however, with last
year's final showdown in Abu Dhabi triggering accusations that
the sport's integrity had been sacrificed for entertainment.
Race director Michael Masi, since replaced, changed the safety
car procedures in a late move that allowed Red Bull's Max
Verstappen to win and deny Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton a record
eighth title.
McLaren's Lando Norris said afterwards he felt it was done "for
the TV".
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, playing a starring role in
a series snubbed by Verstappen who said last year he felt some
of the driver rivalries were 'faked', felt the criticism was
unfair.
"F1 is still a sport, but sport is an entertainment," he told
the BBC.
"And one could also argue that there have been more people
talking about Formula One in the past two and a half months
when, traditionally, it would have been in hibernation."
Much of that talk has also been about what might ultimately be
revealed by the Netflix cameras.
Formula One chief executive Stefano Domenicali recognised,
however, that 'Drive to Survive' needed to remain a
"differentiating factor" with other sports jumping on the
bandwagon in a bid to boost audiences.
Amazon Prime launches a similar MotoGP Unlimited docu-series on
March 14 while the Netflix producers have teamed up with
tennis's Grand Slam tournaments and ATP and WTA tours and are
also reportedly in discussions with cycling's Tour de France.
"If it's becoming just a different way to speak about Formula
One without... giving to the F1 platform any added value maybe I
think it's better to renegotiate and see with Netflix or with
the other partners what could be a possibility to do something
different in the future," said Domenicali.
"But for sure this platform has been a vital point on the growth
of awareness, mainly with the young generation and newcomers."
The 2022 Formula One season starts in Bahrain on March 20.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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