The latest season of Drive to Survive was always going to start with a disadvantage that it did not face in previous years. It was never going to be as dramatic as the 2021 Drivers’ Championship itself. A seesaw season, an intense year-long title fight, and a finish unlike any seen recently in any sport anywhere meant that the docu-series would have to dial up the drama to have even a chance of matching up to its subject.
Spoiler alert: It does not. This fourth edition of the show, now seemingly a fixture on the F1 calendar mainly to lure in the Americans, is largely tame. It follows some irrelevant storylines and a few predictable ones, picking up some steam only in the last two episodes. These final episodes too are electrifying only because the events they showcase have that inherent character.
Still, like every season, this season too has its share of winners and wankers. Who won? Who wanked? Let’s take a look.
Guenther Steiner: This is Guenther Steiner’s chaotic world and we’re all wankers in it. His team ended at the bottom of the timesheets last year, and this year he actually had to offload a drivers who happened to be the son of an actual Russian oligarch. Still, the Haas team principal is a refreshing character at all times. Brutally honest, self-effacing, and blessed with a vast vocabulary of choice words to spice up any situation, Steiner’s ability to deal with sh*t travelling from all sides seems to assuming legendary proportions.
Throughout the show, even in episodes where nothing about him or his team is being discussed, the makers of Drive to Survive often drop in a Steiner One Liner™ to keep things fun. Verdict: Winner
Daniel Ricciardo: Danny Ric’s affable personality has only grown affable-er, but he is likely past the stage where he can compete at the absolute top. His much younger teammate is usually quicker than him and is already being touted as a future champion. Ricciardo may have pulled off an unlikely Grand Prix win after many years last season, but there’s almost no chance that he will be competing for the driver’s title ever again.
He gets yet another full episode on Drive to Survive only because of his smashing charm and his Monza victory, but the McLaren driver seems to be suffering from the same crisis of confidence we’ve seen him have over the last few seasons. And he’s spouting the same spiel that every racing driver does. His Monza win in 2021 was a great story on the day it happened, but it turned into a middling episode in the show. Verdict: Race winner, episode wanker
Valtteri Bottas: For the second season running, the stoic Valtteri Bottas gets an episode dedicated to him. Bottas cares very little for charisma and charm, but his minimal, unvarnished demeanour lets you see how vulnerable he is, how being Lewis Hamilton’s first competitor while chasing all those titles weighs heavily on him. He may have won multiple Grand Prix over his career, but it seems like there’s never a happy ending for Bottas. But he knows when the team needs him, and he delivers what he can on the day. There’s a good chance he won’t get another full episode in future seasons, so this seemed like a bit of a goodbye.
Verdict: Winner
Christian Horner: I’ve never wanted a person to shut up more, than when Christian Horner talks. The smug, smarmy Red Bull team principal has an opinion on everything, but I’m struggling to remember anything he has ever said being of any value at all. His most memorable line has always been to his championship winning drivers. ‘You are world champion’, he says, to the guy who just became world champion. That shows you just precisely how much his words are worth. His wet dream of Max Verstappen winning a championship may have eventually worked out after the sport’s usual shenanigans in 2021, but that doesn’t make him a winner.
Verdict: Wanker
Toto Wolff: The subject of Horner’s nightmares, is probably Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff. Few team managers in any sport have seen the kind of sustained success he has, but Wolff wears the crown surprisingly well. It takes all kinds, yes. So you can’t expect Christian Horner to display the same sense of professionalism and maturity that his main rival does. But Wolff’s best traits are his laser focus on achieving results, and how he’s able to make all his drivers comfortable. You see it best when you see him have to make the choice between continuing with the experienced Bottas as Hamilton’s teammate, or to go with the young and exciting George Russell. I wasn’t really a fan of Toto Wolff before this, but he gets the final word in this season of the show, and he makes those words count.
Verdict: Winner
Honourable Mentions:
Carlos Sainz: The Ferrari driver doesn’t get a storyline in the latest season of the show. In fact, he’s barely there throughout. But the few times he does appear, you see a driver very comfortable with the storied legacy of the colours he sports on track. He also managed to outscore his more spotlight-friendly teammate, the Monegasque Charles LeClerc. Sainz seems secure around the guy who is likely the secret number one driver in the team, though no one will say it out loud. LeClerc is a race-winning talent for sure, but I won’t be surprised if Sainz continues to pull off surprise points and wins all through his Ferrari career. And I’m low-key backing him to snatch a spectacular championship win sooner rather than later, right from the under-floors of his more vaunted rivals in the paddock.
Max Verstappen: The current World Champion may have won his title controversially, and he may have decided to not give interviews for Drive to Survive because of its penchant of heightening drama where they may have been little of it. But when you watch the season recap, you realise that Max was always the frontrunner for the driver’s title last year, despite his petulant, privileged whining. Fact remains, he is the quickest man on track right now, frequently faster than even the seven-time champion he displaced from the top in unfortunate circumstances last December. His whinging does make him a bit of a wanker, but Verstappen is seriously a generational talent. If he continues to stay away from Drive to Survive, it might even unintentionally build a legend around his persona.
Pradeep Menon is a Mumbai-based writer and independent filmmaker.
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