How the Jeddah F1 race became a one-sitting Netflix drama series

By:

Alex Kalinauckas

Dec 6, 2021, 10:24 AM

The inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was a race packed full of incident as Formula 1 2021's title contenders repeatedly clashed on track. Lewis Hamilton won out over Max Verstappen to level the scores heading into next weekend's Abu Dhabi finale, as Jeddah turned F1 into a drama series

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Formula 1 is obsessed with the ‘Netflix-effect’.

It’s easy to see why. Ever since Drive to Survive premiered in 2019, the documentary series that plays fast and loose with sporting reality is credited with attracting new fans to the championship globally.

Netflix is more than a media giant. It’s a verb – and famously rather a naughty one. But ‘Netflix’ also encompasses how people consume many of the programmes on its platforms: they binge them. The shows play automatically – it's assumed one always wants ‘just one more’.

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Alex Kalinauckas

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Alex Kalinauckas is Autosport's Grand Prix Editor, covering every Formula 1 race since the start of 2020. After completing a master's degree in journalism at Goldsmiths College University of London in 2014, he worked for a range of motorsport and technology publications while covering national racing as an Autosport freelancer.

A lifelong motorsport fan - no one in his family can explain quite how or why such a development first occurred - Alex joined the Autosport staff in April 2017 as the magazine’s Assistant Editor covering Formula 2 and GP3, before being made Formula E correspondent and Autosport.com’s Plus Editor in March 2018. He lives in north-east London and is constantly frustrated by the Central Line.