F1 Drive to Survive Season 8: expected release date and preview of 2026 Netflix show

Season 8 of Netflix’s Drive to Survive F1 docudrama is in its final stages of production, as its 2026 release date approaches, promising a behind-the-scenes look at some of the most explosive storylines from last year’s world championship.

If it follows the pattern of previous years, Drive to Survive (DtS) Season 8 will land on Netflix at the very end of February  — around a week before the first race of the season, which takes place in Australia on March 8.

That’s likely to mean that the first trailer for the new season will be shown in mid-February, offering the first clues as to what will be in each episode, as well as what might be left out. Until then, we can only take an informed guess as to what the award-winning producers will focus on.

The downfall of Christian Horner will surely be irresistible to producers, whose formula of spotting a controversy and pointing the cameras at the former Red Bull boss has been a surefire hit since the very first season. And while there were departures, there were also a number of high-profile new starts, with differing fortunes. Lewis Hamilton’s switch to Ferrari; Adrian Newey’s arrival at Aston Martin and Kimi Antonelli’s first season at Mercedes could form the basis of an episode each.

Lando Norris’s rollercoaster ride to his first drivers’ title seems to be a plot that’s made for Netflix, covering his victorious start to the season followed by a series of errors amid performance and psychological struggles. Then followed a dramatic comeback, with team-mate tensions and a season finale that went down to the wire.

Whatever stories are chosen, we can expect to see them told with the help of revealing interviews against the now-famous black backdrop. The identity of the expert pundits remains unconfirmed. Series regular Will Buxton left the F1 paddock to commentate on IndyCar last year; Claire Williams looks more likely to return.

Read on for everything we know so far about Drive to Survive Season 8.

When is Drive to Survive Season 8 released? What time?

Most Drive to Survive series have been released on a Friday at 8am GMT, nine days before the first race of the Formula 1 season. If that trend continues, we would expect to see Season 8 on your Netflix homepage from February 27.

This remains speculative; the details are typically confirmed in the first trailer or teaser shots around a fortnight before series is available.

All ten episodes of every season so far have been available from the first day; last year you would have needed to set aside seven-and-a-half hours to binge the whole series in one sitting.

What could be in Drive to Survive Season 8?

The access granted to DtS crews offers the tantalising prospect of new behind-the-scenes coverage of some of last season’s most explosive stories, although producers have so many options that they are likely to face tough decisions over which to exclude from the 2026 run.

Norris’s title comeback

Lando Norris began the year as the title favourite and won the first race, only to then fall behind his team-mate Oscar Piastri in the championship as he made a series of errors. After crashing into Piastri in Canada, Norris looked like a driver beaten, both on pace and mentally. And yet, come the end of the season, he was celebrating his first championship title. It’s a shoo-in story for at least one DtS episode.

Farewell Christian Horner

He led Red Bull to eight drivers’ championships and six constructors’ titles, but it was his raw and often controversial comments in DtS that made Christian Horner a global superstar. Season 8 may not be his final bow (he’s been linked with a role at several other teams) but his dismissal from Red Bull, amid underperformance and an internal power struggle is all but certain to feature.

Red Bull’s upheaval

Perhaps the Horner story will be merged with that of the widespread changes at the team, which saw Adrian Newey depart early in the year and influential advisor Helmut Marko retire at the end. If producers haven’t tired of documenting Max Verstappen’s struggling team-mates, then they have two: Liam Lawson who lost his seat two rounds into the season, and Yuki Tsunoda, who staggered on until the end of the year — but not beyond.

Briatore and Doohan

Flavio Briatore’s return to the F1 paddock produced one of the most striking episodes of Season 7, partly thanks to his sinister pledge to Jack Doohan that he would control him “every millimetre”. That transpired to mean that the inoffensive Doohan was booted from his Alpine seat after the first six races of the season in favour of the accomplished, but also well-sponsored Franco Colapinto. Classic DtS fare.

Hamilton’s descent into Ferrari misery

Hundreds of fans gathered at Maranello to watch a sharply-dressed Lewis Hamilton stride into the Ferrari factory for the first time last January. By the end of the season, the seven-time champion cut a dejected figure, having been eliminated from the first stage of qualifying three times in a row, and spoke of having “an unbearable amount of anger and rage”. If the Netflix crew got enough access to trace the decline, it could be the most compelling episode ever made.

Newey’s start at Aston

Another F1 grandmaster who started anew in 2025, Adrian Newey joined Aston Martin from Red Bull and ended the year being announced as team principal. How did the greatest designer in modern F1 make his mark at the Silverstone-based team? Does he really get on with the volatile Lawrence Stroll? Perhaps Netflix’s cameras will reveal more.

How is Drive to Survive made?

Embedded within the teams, Netflix crews are able to get closer to the action than anyone else, giving viewers an immersive feel of what it’s like to be at motor sport’s top echelon. Filming takes place at each race, where the focus is typically on one or two of the teams.

Teams and DtS production company Box to Box Films agree in advance where camera crews will be embedded for each race weekend, and also discuss what storylines they are likely to follow. Key figures wear radio microphones during the weekend, and the crew can also be seen with overhead boom mics, capturing footage throughout the paddock, in team garages and even in usually highly restricted debrief rooms.

Teams then get first viewing on material which involves them, in case they might want to seriously oppose any of it being aired. While the approach does offer unique and otherwise unseen insights, it does leave viewers wondering how much was not filmed or unused.

Who is filming Drive to Survive Season 8?

Box to Box Films is the company behind Drive to Survive, headed by executive producer Paul Martin and James Gay-Rees.

The series blazed a trail for this type of approved docudrama, which has been replicated across the sporting world, offering an entertaining and informative behind-the-scenes view of sporting events and characters, including DtS‘s tennis equivalent Break Point; Full Swing which follows golf’s PGA Tour; cycling’s Tour de France: Unchained; and ice hockey series FaceOff: Inside the NHL

In addition to a raft of sporting documentaries, Box to Box has also produced successful films on Ayrton Senna, Diego Maradona and Amy Winehouse.