The human focus that Drive to Survive believes is a winning formula

As interest in a new F1 season ramps up, it’s the perfect time to go behind the scenes to last year’s record-breaking championship. Season 6 of Drive To Survive is ‘dropping’ on Netflix thanks to production company Box to Box Films and its team of producers, editors and experts. Many of those involved have learned about F1 by working on the series but co-executive producer Tom Rogers, who was engaged from the beginning in 2017, carries his own faithful memories of camping at Silverstone as a kid and developing his passion many years ago.

The success of the series has led to a growing fanbase around the world, yet there were some tricky aspects when filming began – including two of the top teams declining access. Rogers explains: “The reality of a show like this is that it requires an enormous leap of faith for everyone involved, especially being a sport like F1 with its history; it’s naturally a very secretive world. There’s so much competitive advantage that could be gained by just seeing a little bit of a car that’s normally hidden. At that point Mercedes and Ferrari probably had most to lose by taking part and some of the other teams saw more of an upside and less of a risk.”

READ MORE: Drive To Survive Season 6 review

Haas was happy and allowed full access at the first race in Australia in 2018. The team was on target to score 22 points, but cross-threaded wheelnuts during pitstops led to both cars retiring.

“The wheels literally fell off both cars,” Rogers remembers, “and as soon as that happened, we thought, ‘OK, we might have an episode one.’ That was it, the train was off and hasn’t stopped since.”

That drama, plus many others, were absorbed a year later as the first series was broadcast and delivered a unique insight. The previously cautious top teams soon joined in, although selecting a particular event to allow filming doesn’t always
go to plan as Mercedes quickly discovered.

“We agreed that we would film one race only,” Rogers confirms, “and the understanding was that we would fully embed. We would tell the story of that race weekend, which happened to be the German GP, when they dressed up in period costumes, and had probably the worst GP they’d had since returning to F1.”

Mercedes had a terrible race when DTS was embedded with the team at the 2019 German GP

Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images

Both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas crashed into barriers in wet conditions and, even though the Briton was able to rejoin, it was a nightmare weekend at the team’s home event.

“To their credit they held their end of the bargain,” Rogers says.
“They didn’t try to shy away from the fact that it was a pretty disastrous weekend and they let us tell that story.”

Since then the show has developed further with a target that it never becomes predictable. Each season throws up new stories and it’s the same with the latest version. 2023 didn’t have a huge rivalry for titles but it did remind Rogers of that first year of needing to look offstage. In doing so they have come across the highs and lows of F1.

"The question became ‘Will Daniel come back before the end of the season?’ And all of this plays really well because it’s all human-interest focus" Tom Rogers

“Remember Lance Stroll had broken his arm and nobody knew if he was going to make the first race,” Rogers explains. “And there was Aston Martin’s resurgence. There are some really great storylines in episode one. Bahrain was really interesting from that perspective.”

Other stories spread out over the full season can be given a more direct focus in single episodes such as the travails of AlphaTauri.

“Nyck de Vries at the start of the season had a tricky time and was replaced by a Drive To Survive stalwart character, Daniel Ricciardo,” says Rogers. “Then Daniel broke his wrist and Liam Lawson came in, and then the question became ‘Will Daniel come back before the end of the season?’ And all of this plays really well because it’s all human-interest focus.”

Red Bull only failed to win one GP last year, but the story of Ferrari’s victory in Singapore was combined with unique access regarding the famous team’s heritage.

AlphaTauri ousting de Vries meant DTS could cover the return of fan favourite Ricciardo

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

“I don’t think anybody who isn’t an Italian Ferrari fan can quite understand the pressure and focus that is on that brand in Italy,” says Rogers. “We filmed in Maranello, a sort of hallowed ground. It’s very unusual to be allowed in there.

“The access for Season 6 has been particularly good. They’ve been true to their word and hopefully when everyone sees the show they’ll get a new insight into Ferrari.”

And as the team doors have creaked open further there is plenty to enjoy.

“They’ve all been supportive of the show,” Rogers says. “They’ve all committed, and the access in many respects has continued to get stronger, which is testament to us being able to deliver
a compelling 10 episodes every year. Without the teams there is no show, nothing to tell, because ultimately the people are what make the show so interesting.”

Rogers says DTS thrives because of the compliance of teams and willingness to provide access to tell human stories

Photo by: Netflix