31/01/2022
NEWS STORY
Might the forthcoming release of Season 4 of Drive to Survive influence the future of Lewis Hamilton and possibly the sport itself.
In the coming weeks (days?) Netflix will drop the much-anticipated fourth season of its highly successful Drive to Survive 'fly-on-the-wall' documentary series.
With its unique behind-the-scenes access to drivers and their teams, the series has been a worldwide success ever since the first series was released in March 2019.
That the series has been particularly successful in the United States, where a whole new generation of fans have been introduced to the sport, has gone down particularly well with the sport's American owners, Liberty Media.
However, the three series to date have come in for a fair amount of criticism, with claims of 'staging' scenes, misrepresenting relationships and even fabricating commentary and radio messages.
Indeed, last year, as he battled Lewis Hamilton for the title, Max Verstappen said he would not be working with the series makers claiming that they misrepresented drivers and their relationships with one another, and that the series deliberately sets out to create bitter rivalries that didn't actually exist.
It's a claim supported by a number of other drivers, team bosses and various other inhabitants of Planet Paddock, but the ongoing success of the series suggests that, despite the criticism, it is what (some) fans want.
In their anticipation of Season 4, which witnessed one of the most hard-fought championships in years, fans can hardly wait to see the behind-the-scenes coverage of the Hamilton/Verstappen battle. However, the highlight of the series and one that surely most will be fast-forwarding to is the season finale in Abu Dhabi.
Season 1 was released on 8 March 2019, with Season 2 following on 28 February 2020 and Season 3 on 19 March last year, this, covering the 2020 season, having been delayed due to the late (July) start due to the pandemic.
Consequently, it is likely that Season 4 will appear before the FIA makes public its investigation into the goings on in Abu Dhabi last December.
Regular viewers will be aware that the series takes sides as opposed to reporting impartially, which therefore puts the makers, and thereby Netflix, in an almost impossible situation.
The series can hardly take the side of Lewis Hamilton because, as the official F1 Netflix series, it would be criticising its paymasters. However, if it were to side with the FIA and Liberty it could well prove to be the final straw for the Briton who has yet to make an announcement on his future.
Indeed, how Drive to Survive handles the Abu Dhabi debacle could prove more crucial to Hamilton's decision on his future than anything the F1 Commission or the World Motor Sport Council can come up with.
Whatever one might think, the fact is that Sir Lewis Hamilton is the most famous driver in F1 at present, certainly among those new fans introduced to the sport by Drive to Survive, which is one of the main reasons the sport cannot afford to lose him.
Last season, still under threat from the pandemic, everything was focussed on the championship battle between two drivers, Hamilton and Verstappen. Indeed, at times one would have thought they were the only two drivers on track.
Listening to the commentary, first time viewers might have got the impression that the two had never gone head-to-head before, that the rivalry between the pair was synonymous with F1, such was the hyperbole from the broadcasters and media in this new Netflix-age of the sport.
Yet - his impending decision on his future aside - in July Hamilton signed a two-year extension to his contract, thereby keeping him with Mercedes for 2022 and 2023.
Just two more years of the 'big two' seems a little short-sighted of Liberty, imagine if Bjorn Borg had retired just one year into his legendary rivalry with John McEnroe, and there are many more examples in numerous sports.
Hamilton has been battling Verstappen for the last couple of seasons, but before that there was Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg, Fernando Alonso... the guy's been battling for years... and has seven titles, and finished runner-up three times, to prove it.
Should he walk away now it would appear that, in the wake of Abu Dhabi, he doesn't think F1 is worth the effort and that is something that could very well rub off on the public.
He has spent 15 years busting a gut making history for F1, holding the title in the highest regard, only for his efforts to be repaid with a knee-jerk decision which the governing body upheld.
Furthermore, in the eyes of some, the frenzied mess that is social media has turned him and his boss into a meme, a laughing stock causing him to cease posting to his 6.9 million followers on Twitter and 26.8 million on Instagram.
One cannot help but feel that the events of Abu Dhabi won't merely devalue the title going forward in Hamilton's mind but also cause him to question whether he should have ever held it in such high regard in the first place.
If the FIA thinks the title is only worth a decision on a whim why should drivers not think the same?
Hamilton signed a two year extension to beat Michael Schumacher's record but what's the point in fighting for something which now has no value in his mind? He is a laser-focussed guy, he puts 1,000% into what he does, so if he has any doubt about the value in the end game it is likely he will walk away.
Hence the feeling that much will rest on how Drive to Survive handles Abu Dhabi.
Liberty has long since realised that it isn't going to make the four-fold profit realised by CVC, indeed it will be lucky to even double its money… then again, maybe it should have done its homework before buying the sport.
With revenue limited by the number of races it can stage, little wonder F1 bosses are looking to cut costs dramatically, with talk of the organisation haemorrhaging staff.
Last summer it emerged that one of the potential buyers of the sport, which Liberty is anxious to sell, is Netflix.
Should Hamilton walk away from F1 the value of the sport would plummet, which, ironically, would suit a potential buyer, like Netflix, perfectly.
Now that's genuine drama and intrigue.