'Drive to Survive' Season 5 review: The hits, the misses and everything else in between

At the outset, I doff my hat to the makers of Netflix’s Drive to Survive for getting me hooked on to Formula One. From thinking the sport involved cars going around in circles to cancelling plans only to spend the weekend watching the race, I think I have come a long way. And I am sure I am just one of the many converts that the show has managed to produce. 

So, when the show’s latest season released over the weekend (just ahead of the first race of the 2023 season that begins in Bahrain next weekend), I, once again, excused myself from all plans and sat down to watch it. But the excitement soon died, much like any team that’s not Red Bull. The show has many drawbacks and makes you wonder if Netflix got a bit complacent knowing that people will watch it, regardless of what’s there to see. 

That said, there’s a lot that I liked and it has left me wanting more. Here’s everything that got us excited and feeling disappointed…

Max Verstappen makes his Drive to Survive debut

It has taken five seasons, but it has happened, finally. The two-time world champion is a welcome addition to the show. The Belgian-Dutch driver shares his opinion about the pressure piled on teammate Sergio Pérez and what it feels like to be the reigning champion. But, unfortunately, a majority of the scenes involve him giving plain-vanilla sound bites. While we’re happy to see him on screen (anything is better than nothing), we just wished the show’s makers could have used his presence better. 

A special sendoff for Daniel Ricciardo

The Italian-Australian driver did not get a seat this season, which is disheartening, but I am glad they gave him a heartwarming sendoff. Ricciardo added the fun element to the series. He wore his heart on his sleeve and despite the many pressures inside the car, always smiled. 

For me, that’s all with the hits. There are 

Did we even see the Brazilian Grand Prix this time? 

In episode nine, we see Red Bull’s big victories in Japan and the USA and the tenth (the finale) goes right into the final race of the season—the Abu Dhabi GP. You know what was missing? Brazil. Why the events from the Brazil leg—where Verstappen refused to let his teammate Sergio Perez pass him, which could have helped the latter’s total—were not included, is a mystery. The nail-biting race would have added the drama that is missing from the season. While we do realise that the teams have the final say into what goes and what doesn’t (and we all know what was said after the race), completely excluding it from the show was a major bummer. 

Each episode feels the same

The flow of each episode is exactly the same—we see a team, their drivers or team principal, followed by them talking about how they feel the pressure to deliver at a race right around the corner that’s a make or break for them. 
At the end of the day, a story told from different perspectives still remains the same story. Drive to Survive Season 5 covers the same race so many times that you start asking yourself if there’s going to be a different winner this time. Your excitement levels hit rock bottom when you know exactly how the episode is going to end. We really expected more, Netflix.