The makers of a documentary series on the 2018 F1 season for Netflix have hit out at Mercedes and Ferrari for their lack of cooperation.

The ten-part series, Drive to Survive, which is scheduled for release on March 8, is an access-all-areas fly-on-the-wall documentary made with the full cooperation of the sport's owners, Liberty Media, who hope it will generate interest in the sport in America, and lists F1 commercial director, Sean Bratches, as co-producer.

However, while eight of the teams were happy to work with the documentary makers, thereby giving viewers unique behind the scenes insight, Mercedes and Ferrari refused to play ball.

"Mercedes and Ferrari wanted to operate under different terms to the rest of the teams," says executive producer Paul Martin, "and us, as producers, and Netflix as the broadcasting platform, didn't feel comfortable with that.

"It was going to be all-or-nothing," he continued, "and if those terms were good enough for the eight other teams, it should have been good enough for Mercedes and Ferrari, too. My view is that they did a slight disservice to the fans and the sport by not taking part.

"We were lucky enough that teams such as Red Bull, Renault, Haas, and the others gave us fabulous access and bared their souls," he added.

Among the various baring of souls is said to be footage of Claire Williams questioning whether she is the right person to be leading her team, Christian Horner holding nothing back after his drivers eliminated one another in Baku and Guenther Steiner having a melt-down after both the team's cars retired following unsafe releases in the season opener.

Meanwhile, there is little mention of the titanic battle between Mercedes and Ferrari, and (sadly) no behinds the scenes of the Italian team's reaction to Sebastian Vettel's errors as the season progressed.

"We were delighted to see that last season's compelling, year-long battle for the championship between Ferrari and Mercedes helped drive 10 per cent growth in unique viewership for F1 worldwide and made the sport the fastest growing in the world on social media," a spokesperson for Mercedes told the Daily Telegraph in reaction to the claims..

"Competing for the world championship is an all-consuming business that demands every ounce of focus from the entire team," the spokesperson continued, "we are driven first and foremost by performance in every decision we make."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by kdxrider, 25/02/2019 22:47

"So Netflix wasn't comfortable with how Mercedes and Ferrari wanted to do things, seems like those two teams were even more uncomfortable with whatever Netflix had planned to do.
Just another intrusive company who has high opinions of themselves imo"

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2. Posted by C5, 25/02/2019 22:39

"Cudos to Ferrari and Mercedes management for having their priorities in order. It may be OK for the top brass, but for the drivers and particularly the ordinary team members to have a camera and - worse - a microphone stuck in their face at the most intimate of times is simply not conductive to maximum performance."

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3. Posted by GarH, 25/02/2019 19:18

"From what I've gathered, Sean Bratches and LM should have been spending their time learning from Netflix how to broadcast programmes to millions over the interweb, 'cos FOM F1 TV continues to struggle. This documentary is a sideshow that will only interest viewers who are already F1 fans. Fans who can afford yet another monthly fee on top of paying Sky to watch F1 this year.

I believe Ferrari and Mercedes were doing the other teams a great favour. If they'd made themselves available, the other teams wouldn't have had so much airtime for their sponsors. And as we know, other than RB, the rest of the field need as much money as possible. Have the teams received any dosh from Netflix or did LM snaffle it?
"

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4. Posted by @R1Racing71, 25/02/2019 9:55

"@VC10-1103
Couldn’t agree more, my old VHS copy is pride of place on the book shelf.
JPS produced a number of documentary’s during the 70’s focusing on the Lotus team, some are available on YT.
Only yesterday I stumbled upon one that focuses on Lotus preparation for the 1978 Grand Prix at Brands – a wonderful insight on different times.
"

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5. Posted by imejl99, 24/02/2019 22:34

"Access-all-areas? They should have consulted Mark Neale how it is done. Faster, Fastest, Hitting The Apex, compelling riveting racing documentaries without revealing any trade or technical secrets. "

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6. Posted by VC10-1103, 24/02/2019 19:38

"The best fly-on-the-wall documentary for me is 'If You Not Winning, You Are Not Trying' the story of JPS 1973 season. It demonstrates it really was a sport back then with Chapman asking an official for more time for Ronnie Peterson to do a couple extra practice laps in Sweden because 'he is Swedish you know".

"

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7. Posted by Sammy, 24/02/2019 19:18

"This “sport” seems to do all the right things to fail. Just waiting for it to get to zero...it’s coming..."

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8. Posted by F1 fan, 24/02/2019 17:05

"I am pretty sure that if the other teams were fighting for the constructor's championship and the millions of dollars associated with that win, they would also have shied away from divulging their secrets and dirty laundry.
"

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Mercedes and Ferrari did fans a disservice claim Netflix documentary makers

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