The sixth instalment of the series will look back at Max Verstappen's and Red Bull's record-breaking championship run while picking up other narrative strands across the 2023 season, likely including Aston Martin's and McLaren's moments in the limelight, Mercedes' continuing quest to get back to winning ways and Daniel Ricciardo's return with AlphaTauri.
Its launch date of 23 February coincides with the third and final day of pre-season testing in Bahrain, teeing up the start of the 2024 season which gets underway one week later at the same venue.
Drive to Survive, which debuted in 2019, has been credited with playing a pivotal role in growing interest in Formula 1, particularly among a younger, more diverse demographic and across the United States.
The series continues to be produced by Box to Box Films with James Gay-Rees, producer of the Academy Award-winning documentary Senna, staying at the helm as Executive Producer alongside Emmy winning producer Paul Martin, who was also behind the 2019 documentary about Diego Maradona.
While the 2023 season hasn't been as dramatic as previous years, Gay-Rees feels the series still has a lot of runway left to continue telling F1's stories.
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB19
“We’ve all had the statistics about the changing, younger demographic, and it’s tough out there for anybody, for any big organisation, to hold its ground given the amount of choices that are out there for the consumer," he said in a recent interview on F1.com.
“Bringing such a big new audience to a sport – which obviously was deserved, it just needed somebody to open it up – is massively satisfying.
“The fact that it wasn’t a fluke, the fact that it’s grown [with every season]… It’s a real honour and we love it. It’s a very difficult show to make, but we love the process, we love the world. Long may it continue!”
Drive to Survive involves the cooperation of all 10 teams after some initial resistance from Ferrari and Mercedes. Its fifth season covering the 2022 season received critical praise for toning down the series' earlier tendency to spin fragments and quotes out of context for dramatic effect.
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