Why bad Netflix reviews and a Vegas race might signal more double points F1 deciders

Formula 1 has now cracked America, with Las Vegas completing a three-pronged attack alongside the sold-out Austin and Miami rounds. The championship’s Stateside foothold has come a long way since the 2000s run of races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which always felt as though the grand prix paddock was merely squatting in IndyCar’s brick backyard - even before the tyre debacle of 2005.

A great deal of the success has been built off the critical and public acclaim garnered by the Netflix smash hit ‘Drive to Survive’ since it first aired in 2019. But after four seasons of increasing poetic licence to fabricate radio messages and rivalries, the positivity towards the show has nosedived. Series one gained a score on Rotten Tomatoes of 90%. As of the most recent fourth instalment, it has declined to 15%.

In response to Max Verstappen withdrawing his involvement from the production and with F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali planning to convey concerns over the truth-twisting, those ratings may increase once again. But the dip still offers a warning that the good times of ‘Drive to Survive’ may one day end. Netflix might no longer continue to pay F1 to create arguably the greatest content campaign in the history of all sport.

Even if public perception recovers, perhaps there’s a natural shelf life to the series. ‘All or Nothing’, the effective football equivalent on Amazon Prime, switches from team to team after each eight or nine-episode rollercoaster to potentially give it a 20-series shelf life give or take Premier League relegations and promotions. ‘Drive to Survive’ is more limited, and no series is safe from general viewer fatigue.

So, if there is to be a case of diminishing returns, despite Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei reporting healthy viewing figures for maligned season four, what might F1 do? It has now had its fix of the US popularity drug and will need to find more hits to sustain the current high.

To avoid bursting the bubble for as long as possible or to indeed prove the bubble is something altogether more robust, the championship must show a willingness to bow to certain pressures. Moving away from the sanctity of a GP on Sunday via the terms of the Las Vegas deal starting in November 2023 might be cited as one such example. Much more than amending the schedule to accommodate a church service in Silverstone village as per previous Saturday races, this time it speaks of a flexibility that will enable F1 to tap into a bumper Saturday primetime audience on the West Coast. And it could go further.

F1 has opted for Saturday night fever for its race in Las Vegas

Photo by: Liberty Media

America’s take on domestic sport might offer an insight. There’s an appetite for a ‘winner takes all outcome’. The idea that ‘it’s not over until it’s over’ is rewarded by the formats of the Superbowl showstopper or the playoff process used by NBA, NHL and the MLB World Series. The adaption of NASCAR to fit a similar style has resulted in something tediously complex. But it’s the same idea: the creation of a halo event.

F1 delivered that to a tee in 2021, thanks to the Abu Dhabi title showdown between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. It was far from the trend of past seasons in which Hamilton and previously Sebastian Vettel wrapped up the spoils of glory with a handful of races to spare. It’s not beyond the realms to consider why, on paper, that kind of damp squib might not pass muster for too much longer should it risk disappointing a bulging audience.

Should F1, therefore, find itself in a post-Netflix boom scenario where it needs to keep the interest of its swollen viewership piqued, might it seek another kind of shot in the arm to ensure everyone remains hooked until the final chequered flag of the season?

Perhaps it could even come full circle to the last throws of the dice from the previous leadership. While the double points season finale of 2014 was hugely criticised and didn’t have too much of an impact on the final destination of the crown, it could conceivably make a return. Rather than arriving in the final days of the then beleaguered reigned of Bernie Ecclestone, the irony is that double points could return to signal the boom of the Liberty Media era after F1’s digital revolution.

A double points finale would still have all the same flaws as before. F1 is a sporting meritocracy that doesn’t rely on Balance of Performance, success ballast and reversed grids to skew the competitive order in the hope of creating a faux spectacle. It still strives to be an arena for 'the best of the best' in which the winner has triumphed from a largely level playing field. But purity may have to make way in these times of prosperity.

Double points or a similar quirk designed to keep the title fight alive down to the wire might not happen, or even be needed should the cost cap and shift to ground effect succeed in boosting the level of competition up and down the pit lane. But if in years to come, such measures do creep in much to the frustration of traditionalists in a post-‘Drive to Survive’ era amid concerns of a dip in interest, perhaps it won’t be a massive surprise.

Miami track drone overview

Photo by: Miami GP