Our honest thoughts on Drive to Survive: Season 8
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Drive to Survive
Drive to Survive is a TV show that shows what happens behind the scenes in Formula 1 racing, like how drivers and teams prepare and compete.
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Formula 1
Formula 1 is a type of car racing where the fastest and most advanced cars race around tracks all over the world to see who is the best.
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Cadillac DTS
The Cadillac DTS is a big, comfortable car made by Cadillac that was popular in the late 2000s. People liked it because it was smooth to drive and had lots of space inside. It's often talked about because it shows what fancy cars were like before SUVs became more popular.
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Formula One is a type of car racing where the fastest cars and best drivers compete in races all over the world.
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A Team Principal is like the boss of a racing team. They make big decisions about how the team works and how the cars race to try to win.
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podium
A podium means finishing a race in first, second, or third place, which is a big achievement in racing.
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grid
The grid is where the cars line up before a race starts. The order is usually decided by how fast each driver was in a practice session.
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Silverstone is a big race track in England where many important car races happen, especially in Formula One.
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Aston Martin
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season review
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paddock
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championship
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behind the scenes
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LIVE
Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the P1 podcast with Matt and Tommy. It's Drive
to Survive Edition Season 8. Season 8, Tommy. I remember when it first came out, I sound
so old. But we have been there throughout the entirety of, well, the Drive to Survive
seasons, the F1 seasons, and we're well into the just knowing what Drive to Survive is
all about. So we're doing, as always, our thoughts on what we thought of DTS, how we
felt it landed, some questions from you guys. How are you feeling about it?
I'm feeling good. Yeah, we've watched all eight episodes, not 10 this year, which I'm
getting to, which is quite interesting. And, yeah, excited to dive into it, because I've
certainly got some opinions on it, which is, I'm sure, going to be lovely.
We love Tommy opinions. I've also got opinions as well. And right, so we, you might be wondering,
we've had an early preview and seen all of the episodes already. So if you're, if you
haven't watched it yet, you know, we'll try and not spoil things, but at the same time,
play by play the entire episodes of everything. But yeah, we'll try not to spoil things, but
also Landon Roses World Champion. So really sorry about that.
Oh, the people that save it to watch it later. The fact there are actually people out there
that don't watch the real season so that they don't get spoiled for Drive to Survive is
one way of watching it for sure. So let's start where we will always begin. Was it any good?
That's the question everybody wants to know. Was DTS season eight worth it? Look, how I am
going to answer this question is that I am, I always enjoy Drive to Survive to a base level
because I love Formula One. And my, because everybody watches it differently, right? Depending
on how much you watch Formula One, how much you love it, how much you want to know about it.
For me, I watched DTS because I want the behind the scenes stuff. I want the things I haven't seen.
I enjoyed it to a level. Yes. Did I think it was one of the best seasons that they've done?
No. I think that the eight episodes, I would have liked to have had 10. I don't know. I feel like
eight was like, oh, it's over. Oh, this season's, because they've done 10 episodes. I'm pretty sure
every season. Every season, I believe. Yeah. So they didn't do that then. I would say if you're
a Formula One fan, yes, it is worth watching. I think that's probably a better question rather
than, is it any good? Because you can, it depends on what you're trying to get from it
as to whether you enjoy it or not. There are storylines that we'll talk about
with some of the questions that I did enjoy. But no, I didn't come away from it going,
that is the best season ever. It was just kind of like, cool, Drive to Survive, done and dusted.
I had a similar opinion, but maybe a bit worse, that I found it quite meh, actually, to be honest.
The last two seasons of Drive to Survive, I feel like we've done this question,
was it any good? And I came away thinking, that was a really good season. I really enjoyed it.
And there's always that level of Drive to Survive where, once you've become a bit more of a hardcore
fan, it's kind of like, cool to hate, isn't it? And I don't need Drive to Survive anymore,
it's not very good. By the way, it's not cool to hate. Just if anyone was wondering, it's not cool
to hate Drive to Survive. Exactly. It's a product that I would have absolutely bent over backwards
for when I was growing up watching F1. 100%. And I think the last two seasons have been great.
However, this one just wasn't really feeling it. I think the biggest thing for me is,
I'm an old school fan and I like the Drivers. And for me, this was like the Team Principal
show. That was my biggest takeaway from it. And there'll be people that like that, because
we all know that what DTS did so well was bring in these characters that were characters. But
like people in the palette that you've never seen before, you get the Steiners and allowed
like the dynamic between Teta Wolf and Christian Horner. They lean into that so much that for me,
it was just like it was the Team Principal show. It should have been called like managing to survive
rather than Drive to Survive. Because I came away from it and I was like, wow, this is very,
very, very Team Principal heavy. That was my kind of takeaway from it. And that's just not really
for me. Like I've never really been interested in that side of the sport. And then again,
it comes back to my point of what you watch Drive to Survive for. But yeah, I guess with
having more Team Principles, you don't get maybe the same sort of feeling from it. Because of course,
you know, you want to have the POV from the Drivers themselves, not the Team Principles telling you
how the Drivers were and things like that. So yeah, it's definitely a different approach.
Let's get in some questions. People on Patreon remember PiperMZMimicX,
what story lines did they do well and which were done poorly?
So I think what they did well, I'll start with the positive. And maybe the only episode,
I've kind of gone back to a negative, but the only episode that I think was a very strong one and
was like, I actually thought this was a good one and really, really enjoyed it, was episode seven
where they covered the disqualification in Vegas. And I think that's exactly what I want from Drive
to Survive, where it needs to capture the season, of course, but I want it to show more behind the
scenes and things. And I think they did a really good job of capturing the drama of that moment.
Of course, it was very surprise, you know, no surprise from what I've said earlier,
Team Principle heavy. There's a lot of Zach Brown. I had to check at the end that he wasn't a
producer because of the amount of Zach Brown is in it. But it was really fascinating to see like,
you know, essentially a camera on the pit wall, and they covered the drama of that,
they're following him in the paddock as they're panicking, things like that. That is
everything I want to see, because I'm seeing a new angle and a new approach for a piece of drama,
and it's real drama. Like that was a hugely dramatic moment in the season. You don't need to
script it. You don't need to pretend that it's not this insanely dramatic thing,
because it was absolutely fricking insane. Like you saw what our reaction was when we
would live streaming and saw the news. So that I think they did incredibly well.
In terms of poorly, one thing that I think that I thought was the most poor episode was,
and they always do it, and they always want to have a different
episode where they do different things, was the one where they covered Nika Holkenberg's
podium, but it was more focused around a battle between Alpine and Steak Kicksalber,
and they love to do this. It reminds me of, there was that one season where
they did like a Yuki Sonoda Ocon rivalry, and you were like, why is that? And what I found
disappointing was the emotion of Nika Holkenberg's podium was this incredible thing where this guy
has been like ridiculed and ridiculed for like never getting a podium, and rather than framing
it around the fact that Nika Holkenberg's never got a podium, like, wow, he's going to do it,
showing clips from 2012 where he crushed the Force India when he was going to do it, and
give that context to the viewer and really like dive into why this is such a magic moment,
and instead it was framed around the fact that it was good points against Alpine in the championship,
and I was like, that for me really missed the mark, and I think that for me was one of the
most disappointing ways they covered it. So there's good and bad, I think, from the episodes.
Yeah, for sure. I will continue on, as you were saying, the the poor
moment. Yeah, the Holkenberg thing stood out as not being framed correctly, I completely agree.
That was one of the biggest storylines in Formula One. The fact that Holkenberg was the longest
appearance, race appearances, race starts of anybody, and the fact that he was able to do it
in a wet Silverstone from 19th on the grid, that deserved an entire episode just fully focused
on that, like they could have gone back into the archives and sort of showed what he's been through,
the moments that were so close yet so far. So yeah, I did feel like a bit underserved by that whole
narrative. I mean, again, it's the team principle show because it was all like,
oh, Flavio, he's crazy, isn't he? Like, what a character. Yeah, and I'm not a fan of Flavio and
what he stands for and what he's done previously, and I can't believe he's even back in the sport.
That is a stance I will always have when it comes to that. So I'll get on to him shortly,
because there is something that I wanted to say about that. Something else was the sit-down with
Zach Brown and Oscar Piastri. I think Oscar Piastri might have been held at gunpoint to film that
interaction, but it was such a weird thing. Like, of what the actual reality is that we all know
that Zach Brown loves Lando. Like, there is no denying that, and yet it was Zach and Oscar that
was that. I don't know, it just felt so weird. That is the wildest narrative. So yeah, we mentioned
about going into the episodes, but just have to cover this one. For them to frame a whole episode,
which makes it look like they did the right thing in the fact that they split up Lando's
championship battle into two sections, because of course they have to cover the bad stuff at the
start of the season, because he did have an incredibly poor start to the season. And he,
you know, had the crashes and things, and it wasn't going well. But for them to frame it like it,
like almost having these shots where like Lando's really down in the dumps, and they like cut to,
it's almost like the meme with the swimming pool where they're holding the baby up and it's Zach
Brown with Oscar Piazza, and it's like, that is not the narrative of the season at all. Like,
it's the opposite. You know, they are a team that have kind of, you know, allowed both their
drivers to race through thick and thin. But one of the biggest takeaways of the season was the fact
that Lando obviously got like the rubber, the green and the Zach Brown support, like is wants
to see Lando and their really good mates. So for them to frame it in the complete opposite narrative
kind of like, is a very weird one. Like I feel like they got like the social commentary of that
like completely wrong. Yeah, but I'm going to do some positives as well, because it wasn't horrendous,
not by any stretch. Some things I did enjoy or not enjoy. I didn't actually enjoy this at all,
but I thought it was good. Was the Jack Doohan story, I think that they captured that quite well.
They obviously spoke to him afterwards. And yeah, you kind of were tugged on the heartstrings a bit
by the whole Jack Doohan story and kind of getting that behind the scenes of him clearly,
so unbelievably frustrated with what was going on. So I felt like I got a good picture of what
was going down in Jack Doohan's life as much as it was a tough watch. And then also, yeah,
I agree with the Vegas thing, the fact that they were able to capture the do they always check,
the Zach Brown asked when it came to the floor and they knew they were in trouble with the floor.
And I don't know, I was sat there going, is that Brown just check? Is he asking whether or not
his car's going to get checked because he knows it's illegal? Like it's that sort of stuff,
where you're like, I shouldn't really be, I'm literally a fly on the wall right now.
Yeah, they even break that one of going Netflix are filming behind that.
Yeah, they were like, shut up, Zach. Shut up. And speaking of Zach, I will say one
against like negative is the fact that I mean, no, he's very corny. We all know that, right?
And you can either love him or hate him. But the meal that he hosted and the fact that he was like,
oh, the king sits down last and all this sort of stuff. I was like, ah, oh my God, this hurts.
This hurts so much to watch. But yeah, I don't know. I don't think there's many people that
would have found that kind of content enlightening in my opinion.
No, I know what you mean. The moments, and this is the problem, we're going to get into this later
with a question, but I just kind of like tease it a little bit is the fact that it is that drive
survive thing of like now they're more conscious of it. Like like it's Zach Brown knowing the
Netflix are with him. He's like really like, you know, it's him as his him him being himself,
but almost like an even more extreme version of himself and doing the like
chest bumps and all they're like, whoa, I'm Zach Brown. Yeah, baby. And that that because he knows
Netflix is filming and it's almost like played up even more. But I do I do genuinely think like
episode seven with the DSQ in Vegas, that is exactly what I want to see from from drive
to survive is sharing the narrative because this is I think a lot of Formula One fans and
have always said that, you know, the real sport is so dramatic, you don't need to make anything up
because like, or just like, do these crazy narratives because my word like what a dramatic
season it was. And if we're talking about improvements, I think we'll just carry on.
Another thing was the lack of Charlotte Clair. They've clearly had interviews with him.
They used him like twice. I didn't really really much at all, despite that. And what was I literally
had another improvement that's absolutely just disappeared from my brain. While you're thinking
of that, people that weren't people that weren't in it, which was a surprise, like Aston Martin
barely mentioned, I guess they're saving it for next year, which could be very interesting,
based on what we know now about Aston Martin has nothing really from those guys. And yeah,
Charlotte Clair just barely barely got a mention, which I'm sure was probably the most disappointing
thing for you. Yeah, it was gutting. It was absolutely gutting. Whenever it comes back,
I will continue. But let's go to the next question from people on Patreon. But J-Dog,
did they do the season justice? That's the first and foremost, it was a bit of a shame
that they only did eight episodes, because we always joke about the fact that, oh, you don't
know how to, how are they going to fit into 10 episodes and things like that. And then it's eight
episodes. They didn't really cover Hamilton's struggles at Ferrari. You know, he's had the
worst season of his life. And at the end, at the end, they had the, I love that they included
Team Radio in Abu Dhabi, where house is like, I'll always fight for you guys, blah, blah, blah,
but then cut the bit where he goes, guys, so wait, wait, you're not, this is the one time you
don't reply and sort of tried to turn it around to a positive, which obviously it wasn't, it was,
it was terrible. They didn't cover Hajar's podium, which I thought was another big moment. But then,
you know, we spoke to Tom Rogers previously, didn't we? And he kind of said that they build stories
to potentially include later on. And obviously they've taken the decision to not include that.
But then I felt as though it was quite a natural thing to include, because they were like, we've
got six rookies, this and the other, they even showed the Hajar formation lap crash. So for me,
the Hajar formation lap crash to Hajar podium is like such an easy storyline to
to be able to link together and have that as a ninth episode or a tenth episode.
But I don't know, there was a bit of a missed thing there.
It's a tough balance though, isn't it? Because at the end of the day, and this is,
this is kind of a double, it's like the double-edged sword, really, of Drive Survive is,
it's not a season review. So you're, you're disappointed, but it does sort of feel like it.
So you kind of need the context of the season in there.
We can't say it's not a season review when we watch it, and they review the season to a lot of,
to a, to a quiet extent. Yeah, exactly. So, so there will always be some stuff missed, because we
want to see the, the, the kind of drama of the, the season we want to see as much behind the scene
stuff. So they do need to frame the people that they've been capturing. But there's plenty there
from like, you know, Jack Do in the story or whatever. Whereas I think some of the episodes,
like, like you mentioned, like they didn't really cover the Hamilton struggles, which I think was
such a big story. I find it weird that they almost made William seem like they're having
a really tough season when actually they were really, really good. That was quite odd. And in
terms of like the justice of the season, I think they maybe had it a little bit of a weird one
where we think that having a good championship fight makes for a better drive to survive. And
actually it doesn't because you don't, they didn't, and, and because they have to cover everything.
So you've had, as someone that's already watched the season, you go, oh, drive to survive is going
to be epic because you had three drivers going to the final race. And then you sat there watching
like, what a crazy battle between Hülkenberg and Gasly in Silverstone. And that, that's the,
the balance of it. And I don't think sometimes they really set up, you know, just how incredible
this story was about the fact that Max Verstappen was fighting back. And of course, I'm going to
say that as a Max Verstappen, I want to see it as much as possible. But like, it was more kind of
like all thrown into the episode at the end, basically. By the way, it's 100 points behind,
he's done. Yeah, it did feel like just covering off what happened in the championship, but also
it's very hard to develop a Verstappen storyline when he doesn't participate in the DTS stuff.
All they're doing is capturing stuff that he's said and radios and things.
Yeah.
I remembered now what I was quite gutted that they didn't include, which they did last year,
which I thought was excellent, was basically giving a camera to the drivers. Like that that was
Oh, yeah, yeah. Awesome behind the scenes stuff that again, is because of that's what I watched
DTS for. I loved that kind of stuff, you know, taking them on the road and then being silly and
this sort of stuff and making it about the drivers completely agree. This year is team principal
era. Oh, I don't watch Formula One for the team principles. I don't. Yes, they have become
figures in their own right. But that's not what I watch it for. So yeah, I was a bit sad that
they didn't include that because again, that's kind of what I watch Formula One. They went down the
social media approach instead, occasionally, and through to some podcasts. Well, something I
really loved. Well, actually, I didn't like it that much. Tommy got included three times.
I mean, what four, actually, was it four? Yeah, yeah.
One absolute description. I was included back as well. I was included for, I think, five words.
But I was wearing the P1 beanie. So good branding. Thanks for including us DTS.
But yeah, I mean, yeah, forget it's the flipping team principle show. It's the Tom Bellingham show.
I actually couldn't believe within like 30 seconds of watching the first episode,
this guy just pops up with a bit of analysis. I'm like, my goodness gracious me. No, it's
absolutely awesome to be included in DTS like in any form. So I'm surprised you only be able to
leave your house now without, you know, signing autographs. Yeah, I was going to say, come on,
come on guys, at least eight times. I want to appear next year. Well, more than once for me,
please. That'd be great. Thanks. No, it was, it was, that was an interesting style, obviously,
joking aside, the fact that they included us, which was great, is to kind of capture that fan
side of it because, and maybe this is just because we are in our own bubble and stuff. But
we've obviously, it's been cool to be included in that match this up and documentary. And I do
think like those live reactions from fans like us and other people as well that included like
Pondon in it. And there's obviously loads of creators making these things. It's a really cool
way to like capture like just how dramatic these moments are. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, I liked
it obviously a bit biased because we got included. But it does, it does kind of paint the picture of
the reaction to certain things. It's a social media sport, like it's a sport with so much
commentary and it's about the fans. So to include those fans and what they think and
I think was a really interesting angle to like show the kind of memes and things about what's
going on about, oh, Lando's not having this great season. And then he obviously turns it around.
And that's the storylines that you want to see. And I think that the kind of social commentary
tells that quite, quite well. So I'm glad they include it. It's a drive to survive season nine,
P1 with Matt and Tommy reaction videos. That's all it'll be. Yeah, perfect.
Okay, let's go to a question from Kieran F321. Was it surprising how they handled
the Horner situation? So there's no surprise that Christian Horner is included quite a lot.
Of course, he is one of the stars of the show and has kind of made this villain.
It was kind of done in a way to sort of like you feel sorry for him.
I felt like they maybe didn't address the elephant in the room a lot of the time about
why he was being dropped. You know, they kind of they pushed a lot of the narrative around the,
in my opinion, maybe it's just I'm looking at it from from a Verstappen fan. But they pushed the
narrative quite a lot of how it's like the Verstappens were like this Draco and Lucius
Malfoy characters that pushed him out and they're kind of the bad guys and not really saying too
much about like, you know, the performance weren't great and also the previous allegations that they
obviously went into in the last season, they kind of don't really mention at all. But it was an
interesting thing to see a bit of behind the scenes about, you know, when he was watching it on TV
and stuff for the first time out of Team Principal and he has to listen to the commentary and whatever.
But again, with the I felt this about Gunther Steiner, you know, it was a funny guy and it was
great when it happened. But after eight seasons, it's kind of like, can we just move on to someone
else and show someone else because there's so many great characters up and down the paddock. And
in a weird way, I think it might actually help the season that they can focus on new characters
now rather than just doing the Horner episode all the time or the Gunther Steiner episode all the
time. I'll be absolutely gutted to not see the drone flying over his farm, you know, one final time.
Look at my house. I am not surprised in the slightest the send off they gave Christian Horner.
Because as you say, he's been the villain in the show since the start. And I think DTS have a lot
to kind of they probably feel like they owe him stuff because they've created this massive narrative,
the Toto versus Christian war that was going on. But yeah, they didn't really, they'd obviously
covered it, as you say, in the previous season, the allegations and then coming into this one,
it's just Horner's side of the story, isn't it? That's what we get. We don't get any other
balancing neutral view. It's just Horner saying he's been robbed and things like that. But honestly,
Red Bull got really good after he left and he won the championship.
I wasn't going to, I was going to say, this is Horner's last appearance on the show, but it's
absolutely not. He's going to be back in Formula One somehow, looks like maybe with Alpine or buying
the team or whatever. You can already hear, you can already watch, see the shot, slow mo, him
walking into the paddock in an Alpine shirt with the electric guitar music playing Dan in it. And
it's like, he's back. Yeah, I literally drive to five season nine. We've written it already.
Yeah, we absolutely have. Let's get a question from David Docherty.
Eight, do they go into Lando's journey a bit more?
They do. They kind of hark back to his carting days and they do create quite a nice, I would say,
narrative around where he started and where he ended up. It's always interesting. Again,
this was a positive, was hearing from Lando, hearing him be quite honest, I would say,
about his emotions, about him absolutely bricking it going into the final race and
things like that. So I did enjoy the insight into Lando's mind a little bit. Oscar, of course,
as well. So I would say from the drivers we heard from, the McLaren drivers were the most
interesting because, of course, they're fighting for the championship. So yeah, there was probably
not enough, I would say, into Lando's journey. There was like the occasional behind the scenes
of him in a hotel, which lasted for about 10 seconds, then him leaving the room.
And then it was back to Zach Brown.
Yeah, then it was back to Zach Brown. So I would have liked more, for sure. I was left
definitely feeling like I didn't get as much BTS from Lando as maybe we would have wanted,
but then they may well be hamstrung by how much McLaren and Lando are willing to give them.
Exactly. It's so tough because we can sit here and say, I wish they'd included more of that,
but they might not. And the drivers, it's only, you mentioned about Master Stappen and how he
doesn't want to be there. He doesn't want to be included in it. So they can't, they can only do
so much with it. And I actually think Lando's parts in the show are actually some of the most
interesting parts because he's a very honest, real human being. And we all know that he's not
afraid to have those moments where, say at the start of the season, when it wasn't going well
for him, he's very hard on himself. And he's saying that I'm not performing and this sucks and all
this kind of stuff. And you're going to get a very real kind of moment about someone's season.
And it would have been great to see more of it, but maybe they just don't film it now. And that's
why they have to do 90% of the episode is like brown weeping and hollering. Because this is what
I'd love to see more of. And yeah, they threw in a little montage at the end, of course. But
yeah, it's hard. This is the difficult thing with how they balance it when
we won't know how willing drivers are to do it. Like some clearly really want to be in it. Some
now just don't care anymore. And we'll never know because we don't have the hours and hours of footage
to look through and go, oh, why don't you include this? Why didn't you include that? Because yeah,
they can only do what they can. We would love to, though. So please send us the files. Thank you.
Question from P1Patreon member BexP. How much longer can drive to survive stay relevant?
It's difficult because I do find that one of the biggest disappointments of this season
is that it feels more performative. And when I look back at the best moments of drive to survive,
when it's Magnuson slamming the door or going to the side or on his phone,
it's them with a camera like capturing these moments that they didn't know they're on film.
Whereas now it's kind of like, okay, George, go on a yacht with your girlfriend. And can
you please start talking about Max Verstappen? And it's almost like they're pushing these drivers
to say things. And that is what I am less, less excited by because I think they're actually
some quite cringe moments, particularly with like, Toto and George, where they're like so aware
they're on camera and so aware it's DTS, that it just doesn't feel natural or real at all.
And it's so true. I would liken it to like, I don't watch them often, but reality dating shows
where they probably go on a yacht, and then they'll talk about their relationship and stuff. And
it's like, you know that the entire thing has been set up. Yeah, 100%. Because it is that way
of doing it. Like you can tell it's done where, I don't know, on these reality TV shows, a couple
might have an argument, and they can't be filming them 24 seven. So they go, okay, can you now get
in a room and recreate this argument for us in front of camera or talk about this argument. And
that's what it feels like with DTS where, you know, you're having these moments. And that is
my biggest gripe with the new season is because they're focused on the team principle so much,
they just, they love it. They love being the stars and it just like inflates their kind of
egos, I guess, and they want to be the stars of it. And they just play up so much the cameras
because they're like, they're even more extreme personalities because they're in the spotlight.
I would argue with this, that it's as much on the teams as it is on DTS that it's become this.
Like they are so aware of the cameras and the microphone arm and, you know, you see it in the
series, which I feel like is almost a nod by, you know, box-to-box films, the guys that make it,
that they are being restricted because they're not saying anything anymore in the paddock.
They're not slamming the doors because they know there's filming going on. So like,
I don't know, it's an interesting conversation to have, right, where you can't tell teams to
relax because they're not going to. But also, the existence of this series relies on the real
moments. And yes, Drive to Survive has probably served its purpose from a Formula One business
perspective of bringing a heap ton of fans in. But I also think it is quite important to continue
on as well and to be on the front page of Netflix and in front of so many different people that
don't watch the sport year in, year out. I think it's still a really important series that if it
was binned off, I don't think it would be a good thing for Formula One. I really don't.
No, it wouldn't. For all the negative stuff and bits we don't like about it. Like we don't want
it to disappear. It's a great addition, isn't it, to the sport and watching more stuff before the
season starts. Yeah. So I'm not sure what the answer is here because teams are aware now.
It's tough. That is the problem. It's like they've broken the fourth wall, haven't they?
Exactly. So it's a shame. It is a real shame. But that is the byproduct of teams being aware of,
oh, okay. So actually now you're always being interviewed. No matter where you are,
you have to act like you're being interviewed. So it's a shame. It's a shame. But this is where,
I think, from a DTS standpoint, they now need to figure out what the series is going to look like
with these obstacles in front of them. Because there was a way around it last year with giving
the drivers cameras and stuff like that and just showing them being silly and showing another side
to them. Because it's real. That's what we said. You agreed with me that one of the best moments
of the whole thing was when they're chasing McLaren down the paddock because there's this huge drama
going on. And in a situation like that, that they've got the cameras there, they can film it
and they can follow this team and all this drama happening. In those moments, the team
principals can't afford to go, okay, let's now go to a studio and do a perfectly set up shot of me
talking about it. Because it's real and it needs to be more real of those captured moments. But
as you say, there's only so much you can do that when it's kind of like, oh, Netflix is here. Oh,
careful. Netflix are filming or whatever. And they're not going to say these crazy things because
that's what made the first season so great when you had like the signer on the phone and talking.
Because that wasn't him going, okay, Netflix, I'm now going to phone and pretend that I'm speaking
to my boss or whatever. It's how they do it. And it's tough. Like, it's not easy. It's not an easy
thing. We spoke to Tom, the producer last year about it, and it shows it's not an easy thing.
And we're very aware of it when we make these criticisms because... Yeah, it's not easy. But
the problem is the benchmark is so high from previous seasons that it can't just, yeah, sort of
slowly go down because, yeah, people will expect the best. And, yeah, look, it was, as I say,
to round up, I will always enjoy it on a base level because more Formula One is a good thing for me.
But, yeah, there are things that need to be improved with the series and making sure that the
narratives and the storylines make sense. As I say, the Hülkenberg thing was the most disappointing
one for me. Yeah. And Tommy, what are your final thoughts? Final thoughts are that as much as it
is a great thing, I'm looking forward to the fact that we'll have racing back. And, yeah,
it's really exciting that DTS, as much as exciting to have a DTS season, it also means that basically
Formula One is very, very, very nearly back. And my word, I'm so excited for it.
Absolutely. Thank you, everybody, for watching. We really appreciate you as always. And, yeah,
that is it. We'll see you very soon. Lots of love. Take care. Bye. Goodbye.
About this episode
Matt and Tommy share their candid views on Drive to Survive Season 8, highlighting a shift towards focusing heavily on team principals rather than drivers, which divided their enjoyment. They praise episode seven's behind-the-scenes look at the Vegas disqualification for its raw drama but criticize the handling of Niko Hülkenberg's podium story for missing emotional depth. The hosts discuss the awkward portrayal of relationships within teams, especially involving Zach Brown and Oscar Piastri, and reflect on the season's shorter episode count. Despite some frustrations, they acknowledge moments of strong storytelling and character insight.
Original notes
We’ve seen the brand new series of Drive to Survive and have PLENTY of opinions! And no, not just on how many times Tommy was featured instead of Matt.
So let’s break down the good, the bad and the Zach Brown radio messages of the brand new season!
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