F1 and Netflix reveal Drive to Survive season 4 release date

Recapping the dramatic 2021 season and the title fight between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, season four of Formula 1: Drive to Survive will hit screens on 11 March.

The 10-episode series will drop just nine days before the 2022 season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

“Offering unprecedented access, Season 4 will once again take fans behind the scenes, to witness first-hand how the drivers and teams prepare to battle it out for victory in one of the sport’s most dramatic seasons to date,” a statement from F1 and Netflix reads.

“Get ready to delve into fierce team rivalries, unexpected podiums, and the intense title battle between Mercedes and Red Bull as the pressure reaches an all-time high both on and off the grid.”

The series will once again be produced by Box to Box Films, with Academy Award-winner James Gay-Rees (Amy, Senna) and Paul Martin (Diego Maradona) as executive producers.

The success of the first three seasons of Drive to Survive has helped lift F1’s global profile and drive audiences across the world, enjoying particular success in the United States.

Season three was the most-watched show on Netflix upon its release last year, and achieved the rare feat of outperforming the first season in terms of viewership.

Camera crews were embedded with teams across the course of the 2021 season once again, catching behind-the-scenes footage and covering many of the off-track stories.

This will be the first season of Drive to Survive to profile a championship showdown, taking place between Verstappen and Hamilton in Abu Dhabi before its dramatic and controversial ending.

But Verstappen is not set to be directly featured in the series heavily after revealing last October that he was not giving any more interviews for Netflix as it “faked rivalries”.

The success of the series has also led to some concerns about the balance between entertainment and sport for F1, particularly in the wake of the last-lap shootout to decide the championship in Abu Dhabi.