5 things that made "Netflix F1 Drive to Survive season 5" work

The 5th edition of Netflix's F1 Drive to Survive has surprisingly not received the kind of backlash that the last edition received. The 4th edition drew an outrage of sorts from F1 drivers like Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, who were some of the biggest critics of the series.

Looking back, what is it that has made the series not cause such a negative reaction this time around? More importantly, what made the 5th edition of the series work? Let's take a look.

#1 No more fake narratives

One of the major criticisms faced by the docuseries was the abuse of creative freedom. In an endeavor to infuse drama into the show, fake narratives were constructed and displayed. Clips were picked out of context and used in places where they did not make much sense.

This was one of the major criticisms from Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. The McLaren driver was made to look like something he wasn't in his partnership with Daniel Ricciardo. Something similar happened with Max Verstappen in the first season of the series.

As a result, the Red Bull driver opted to sit out of the series until he was persuaded to return last season. By the looks of it, the feedback given by Max Verstappen before he agreed to appear was listened to and implemented.

Throughout the season, an F1 fan who has followed the entire 2022 season can tell that there are no fake narratives. Netflix has not tried to create drama in places it does not exist.

#2 The behind-the-scenes conversation around the Mick Schumacher saga was eye-opening

There were always question marks over what had happened to Mick Schumacher at Haas. Keeping that in mind, it was eye-opening to see how alienated the young driver was at Haas. There's clear evidence of Guenther Steiner not proving to be a boss who can nurture a young driver and bring the best out of him.

The constant alienation and hostility towards Mick Schumacher over the weekend in Baku, in what was just the 6th race of the season, was also quite surprising. It shed some light on the ordeal the young German went through at Haas last F1 season.

#3 The team principal meeting in Canada was great content

The segment where Christian Horner and Toto Wolff got into a shouting match in Canada is something we only heard about last season. There were reports circulating last season that the Red Bull and Mercedes bosses went after each other in a meeting in Canada.

By the looks of it, Toto's demeanor of playing up to the cameras was somewhat obvious, but it also left the other team principals trying hard to control a chuckle as the Mercedes boss blew his lid with some rather preposterous allegations.

#4 The background into Ferrari getting rid of Mattia Binotto now makes sense

Mattia Binotto getting fired at the end of the 2022 F1 season did not sit well with a lot of people. The (now former) Ferrari team principal helped the team get back to its glory days as they finished 2nd in the championship. Having said that, it's only when you see what was going on in the background that you understand how bad things were.

Mattia Binotto was a technical maestro moonlighting as the team principal of a top F1 team. The way he managed his drivers was woeful. So was the way he just let a Ferrari academy driver almost get bullied at Haas.

Binotto was in over his head and if you observe carefully, something that the series was able to portray very well, he was just not the man for the job.

#5 The F1 Cost Cap saga was covered well

The F1 cost cap saga kicked off in Singapore and continued to haunt Red Bull for a few months. The way the series was able to keep the chronology in place while doing the storytelling and then laying down the most important facts of the saga was quite impressive.

For a viewer that has not followed the sport, this was certainly one of the easiest ways to understand what a cost cap is and what the implications were going to be when a team ended up breaching it.