Formula 1: Drive to Survive season 5 review: Continues to be a great ride 

Formula 1: Drive to Survive season 5 follows the 2022 Formula One World Championship season, where cost caps and technical regulations change the game. The docuseries is now streaming on Netflix.

Story

With new regulations and cost caps, the underdogs will have a chance to compete with the big teams, who can no longer spend enormous amounts of money, and change the game. 

Ferrari, disappointed by their performance in the last season, aims to perform better than that with their new and promising cars. They have high expectations from their drivers, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. 

Meanwhile, Haas’ Guenther Steiner is forced to terminate the contract of Nikita Mazepin due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, leaving him one driver short right before the championship.

This is not the only issue that Haas faces. Their crash-prone driver, Mike Schumacher, costs them a lot. Schumacher must prove his worth to be able to stay in the game and continue his father’s legacy.

Mercedes’ new cars cause problems for the drivers, severely affecting their performance. 

While McLaren drops one of their drivers for the next year, Alpine loses not one but two of its drivers, and the rivalry between the two teams continues.

Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda’s journey as a team will soon come to an end, and Tsunoda must prove that he is ready to stand on his own and lead the team. 

The leading team, Red Bull, is brought under scrutiny when it is accused of breaching the budget cap.

Teams, drivers, and team principals compete in a game of speed, where a minor error could cause major losses to a team, but not without the drama that happens off the track. 

Positives

The docuseries manages to create a sense of danger and thrill when the conditions on the track get worse. The audience starts fearing for the drivers in the scenes where there is zero visibility due to the rain or the scenes where crashes are depicted.

The rivalries between the drivers who are competing on and off the track are interesting, but the rivalries between the team principals are even more engaging. Their witty as well as snide remarks provide enough drama and make the series entertaining.

Furthermore, the docuseries focuses on the politics and the tensions behind the scenes, which add to the tension on the track. It succeeds in depicting that this is a cutthroat competition and that loyalty does not mean a lot to the parties involved.

Each episode focuses on a particular issue and how it ends eventually. While the show’s approach is formulaic, it manages to get the audience completely invested in one story in every episode; in the end, the audience gets to celebrate or feel the disappointment with those on-screen.

Negatives

The docuseries fails to provide a comprehensive picture of the season, as it omits significant events of the 2022 season, including the dramatic events of the Brazilian Grand Prix, despite having an episode dedicated to Checo.

Verdict

The fans of the racing championship would not be disappointed in the fifth season of the popular Formula 1: Drive to Survive. In fact, even those who are not fans will find the docuseries entertaining. The fifth season is a worthy addition to the series.

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