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Netflix’s racing reality TV show, “Drive to Survive,” turned me into a longtime fan of Formula One and motorsports. It’s why I was looking forward to the show’s eighth season, which would dive into the joys and complications of a team sport driven by individual goals rather than collective ones.

Instead, the season delivered lukewarm, irrelevant plots, failing both longtime viewers and new fans.

The show’s new season, which was released Friday, follows F1 drivers as they compete to clinch wins and keep their seat in the prestigious league.

In its earlier seasons, the show built an audience by showing drivers fighting to keep their seat in the sport, with the seventh season receiving over 10 million viewers on Netflix. The growing popularity allows the show to pay its full attention to dominant teams and drivers battling to keep and gain championships. But season 8 diverges from the formula created in previous seasons of “Drive to Survive,” alienating longtime fans of the sport.

This season pivots to focus on a record six rookies: Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), Isack Hadjar (Oracle Red Bull Racing), Jack Doohan (Alpine), Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls), Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) and Oliver Bearman (Haas).

Much of the season revolves around the rookies training for the hypercompetitive sport and the treatment of new racers and their mental adaptation to the track. In Episode 2, the show directly addresses the controversy of Doohan’s replacement by Alpine, contrasting with the team’s gentle treatment of Bortoleto.

The season especially spotlights Antonelli and Lawson, who become main stars. Episode 4 highlights Red Bull’s struggles, including Lawson’s replacement (who got demoted to Red Bull’s junior team, Racing Bulls) and the rise of Yuki Tsunoda (who replaced Lawson within two races). Comparatively, Antonelli is shown as a rising star in Episode 6, where his performance as a rookie is praised. But the show doesn’t do much in addressing why this unjust culture persists.

Sadly, the storylines on new drivers come at a cost to the more interesting stories of veteran racers. The championship battle between Lando Norris (McLaren), Oscar Piastri (McLaren) and Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) takes a backseat. Norris, Piastri and Verstappen’s rivalry only become the centerpiece of the last two episodes, which feel like a waste of time.

Last year, Nico Hülkenberg received his first career podium after 239 races, a fan favorite moment. But, the show completely excludes it in favor of Norris’ home race win in Silverstone and his conflict with fellow teammate Piastri.

A surprise win from George Russell (Mercedes) is also completely ignored in favor of rookie plots. These changes differ from season 7, when an entire episode was dedicated to Charles Leclerc’s home win at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Fans also expressed confusion after Hadjar’s surprise Zandvoort podium was excluded entirely from the show, with a comment online noting, “WHAT DID THEY EVEN COVER THEN??”

The show feels confused on who its audience is. If it really was meant for longtime fans of the sport, they would have covered these iconic moments. Instead, much of the show is spent tediously explaining the rules of F1.

In earlier seasons, “Drive to Survive” gained its charm through well drawn out commentary and fast-paced, interesting racing montages. But season 8 fails to capture this excitement. The montages feel rushed and unappealing.The season also leaves out crucial information about racers’ qualifications and final finishing positions, leaving viewers guessing from context clues.

Lewis Hamilton’s struggles as a Ferrari driver should have taken center stage throughout this season, but the difficulties were only truly addressed in one episode. Hamilton’s struggles easily became forgettable; considering how astronomical his move to Ferrari was in 2024, the neglect of his sudden fall in performance should’ve been more of a consideration. The heavy emphasis on the rookies (without much focus on many season highs that fans were expecting) also strips the season of some much needed lightheartedness from veteran drivers.

Netflix offers many other racing documentaries like “The Seat” and “F1: The Academy.” But what sets “Drive to Survive” apart is how it intimately captures major moments. However, now its consistent indecisiveness about who the show’s for is its biggest downfall.

If the show was meant to be for those just entering motorsports, more could be done to inform these newer viewers about the sport. But, “Drive to Survive” assumes a baseline level of understanding and expects viewers to follow. They can’t do that while also gearing storylines to newer fans and ignore what long-time fans are looking for.

Still, this season had some redeeming qualities that may bring new viewers in or keep longtime fans watching. The spotlight of the rookie class refreshes the cast of drivers, setting up new characters that fans old and new can root for. Season 8 also showed the drivers’ conversations more accurately pre and post race, instead of making editing choices that skip between races, which made the show easier to watch.

“Drive to Survive” always provides beautiful cinematography of races compared to the standard fare provided in live broadcasts, serving as ample material for edits and a depiction of why motorsports is so appealing.

For someone who got knee-deep into motorsports because of this series, I’m grateful for this show for getting me into F1. I’m just not sure I’ll keep watching.

Published on March 2, 2026 at 10:28 pm