This year’s release may have been pushed back into March after the season opener in Australia was postponed, to give the series a two-week run-up to the season start, on March 28, as per last year.

With Drive to Survive S1, each episode was weekly, but S2 was released all at once, allowing viewers to watch it one go, which was how we got such a rapid review straight to you last year.

If they do the same again for S3, be sure to check back on our website to read the first review.

 

Drive to Survive trailer Season 3 — what does it show?

The teaser trailer certainly lived up to its name, showing a brief montage of clips from the year, ending with the words of McLaren Racing’s CEO Zak Brown: “We have no idea what’s going to happen” – with reverb turned up for dramatic effect.

It opens with the cars lining up on the grid for the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix, but the action is unlikely to begin there: a clip of Sebastian Vettel appears to have been shot in Melbourne at the Australian Grand Prix that never happened, raising the prospect of a behind-the-scenes look as hopes for the race disintegrated, hours before the cars were due on track.

There are more clues in the full trailer, which shows clips of a Ferrari debrief during the team’s lacklustre year, and the drivers being told: “We can’t be too funny considering the performance”. Footage of Romain Grosjean’s fiery crash is shown, as well as a snippet from a joint interview with him and his wife, Marion Jolles.

sweary Haas boss Gunter Steiner is back and in full flow — unsurprisingly, given the team’s awful performances. There are plenty of dramatic action and crash shots, plus a scene of despair on the Mercedes pitwall, which appears to be the moment that Lewis Hamilton is penalised for practising starts in the pitlane.

 

How did they film Drive to Survive Season 3?

Film crews have been seen with various teams throughout the season. Strict social distancing protocols had to be observed at all times in the paddock, with camera’s zoom features likely to be working overtime.

F1 digital presenter Will Buxton’s own DtS YouTube preview emphasises how some filming staff had to become part of their requisite team, so as not to break out of their bubble.

One example he gives is cameraman James Ralph at McLaren, who could be seen wearing the Woking squad’s team uniform in Austria, and remained with them for a significant amount of the 2020 F1 season.

 

Who made Drive to Survive Season 3?

Executive producers Paul Martin and James Gay-Reese, the men behind DtS Seasons 1 and 2, as well as award-winning films Senna, Amy and Diego Maradona, were once again on board to make DtS Season 3.

The aesthetic and dramatic should be similar to S1 and 2, and then some. Expect more ratcheted-up Red Bull tension, DRS-assisted drama and the heartbreak of yet another Sebastian Vettel pit-strategy gone AWOL.

 

What’s in Drive to Survive Series 3?

DtS 3 may have some of the strongest story lines of any series so far, although the trailers have not revealed too much.

The full drama of the Coronavirus cancellation of the Australian Grand Prix will surely be covered, as F1 insisted the show must go on whilst leading lights like Lewis Hamilton called for it to be cancelled. It was called off eventually, so team members’ unfiltered opinions on the debacle will certainly make fascinating viewing.

With Covid-19 paralysing the world and its sporting activities too, who knew what would happen – would we see F1 again in 2020?

In light of the absence of a real season, the silly season got going instead. Sebastian Vettel was ejected from Ferrari, Carlos Sainz Jr became his replacement, and Daniel Ricciardo took up the Spaniard’s seat for McLaren. Renault put out a salty press-release in response to the Danny Ric’s exit and the F1 world waited with bated breath to find out Vettel’s fate and see who would fill in at Renault for 2021.

All this before the 2020 season had even turned a wheel.

How much time Netflix devotes to what everyone else got up to in the meantime – Charles Leclerc and George Russell going head to head in virtual truck racing, Lando Norris shaving his head live on Twitch, Romain Grosjean making Lego models and baking cakes – remains to be seen; the trailer does show Valtteri Bottas chopping wood at home,

Of course the real season did get going eventually, and crews were seen filming McLaren and Red Bull at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Lando Norris has revealed via his Twitch channel that he will feature in the latest instalment. After being kept out of limelight in his debut year, the McLaren driver will now be front and centre of S3

Austria was indeed the race where Norris earned his ‘Last lap Lando’ moniker, after an incredible late-charge bagged him his debut podium. McLaren’s own YouTube channel showed the full emotion of this nail-biting sequence with their ‘Unboxed’ episode, so one can only anticipate Netflix upping the dramatic ante several notches further.

The McLaren driver has also said that he hoped his Red Bull Ring escapades are featured as early as Episode 1, but with all the drama of the ‘non-start’ to the season, it might just be pushed back.

Norris gave his usual tongue in cheek take on the new series: “The first two; I’m gonna admit, not as good as what Season 3 is gonna be, because they don’t include me!”

As far as Red Bull were concerned in Austria, it looked like a late tyre change would bring the victory to them and Alex Albon, before Lewis Hamilton nerfed him into the gravel, rather setting the tone for the beleaguered Thai’s season. Expect ecstasy and agony to be represented by shots of the Red Bull pit crew leaping around in reaction to action unfolding.

Just as poor Pierre Gasly proved to be prime dramatic fodder in Series 2, this time it’s his replacement Albon who will be put through the wringer. We can possibly look forward to tense close-ups accompanied by radio messages urging Alex to “drive faster”, along with Christian Horner giving more world-class driving tips, all filtering past right before Albon spins out of a safety car restart of his own accord.

We don’t know which teams Netflix were tracking for which races, but it appears from the trailer that they were in the pits for a least one race of Ferrari’s car crash of a season likely to provide delightful entertainment or deliciously painful watching – probably both.

A team which was challenging for wins last year now struggled to get into Q3, in addition to the team so publicly falling out of love with Sebastian Vettel. Any behind the scenes filming will likely be gold for F1 fans as the Scuderia seems to fall on its own sword as far as public relations go – never mind the results on track.

Both Mercedes suffered punctures at the British Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton limping along to miraculously win with only three working tyres – if Netflix was there with them, no doubt they’d squeeze every last dramatic drop out of this sequence of events.

It would be fitting for Netflix to feature the redemption of Pierre Gasly with his Italian GP victory, bringing things satisfyingly full circle after his 2019 travails. Gasly remained level-headed at Monza when others could not – Lance Stroll speared off the road and Carlos Sainz can’t break the Frenchman’s resolve.

The sheer emotion of Gasly winning his AlphaTauri team’s home grand prix, sticking it to Red Bull and also honouring his late friend Anthoine Hubert are certain to provide highly emotional viewing.

Who were Netflix following in Turkey? An unexpected Stroll pole came on a track surface more slippery than Knockhill in a Scottish squall. Conditions were the same for the race, with action aplenty until Lewis Hamilton proved his championship-winning pedigree by coming through to take an incredible seventh title, whilst simultaneously team-mate Valtteri Bottas seemed to have forgotten which way was backwards or forwards. If Netflix were with Mercedes for this race, it’ll make a great episode.

The full story behind Romain Grosjean’s horrifying crash will be fascinating to watch. The Haas driver has already spoken candidly with Martin Brundle for Sky F1, calling death “Benoit” and talking about how the motivation to see his children again helped him summon the superhuman strength to pull himself out of the flames. Hearing about it in even more detail should be every bit as moving, if not more.

Netflix know how to ramp up the drama of a crash without being distasteful, Marcus Ericsson’s 2018 Italian Grand Prix shunt being an example of this. That said, they probably needed to do very little, if anything, to make Grosjean’s crash any more pronounced.

The penultimate round of the F1 season couldn’t have been more Hollywood. Did Netflix have access to Mercedes for the George Russell cameo in Abu Dhabi? One can only hope, but if they didn’t, getting the scoop on Sergio Perez’s first win after ten years of trying would surely compensate.

In his aforementioned video, Will Buxton has confirmed he’s a talking head, but other interviewees are yet to be confirmed – the F1 digital presenter says even he doesn’t know who else is in it, such has been the separation in the paddock this season.

What he does confirm though, is that makers of the series believe this series to have taken a significant step up on its predecessors.

 

Is Drive to Survive Season 3 happening?

Yes – that’s clear now the release date has been confirmed. However, there was doubt early in 2020, when the restrictions F1 would face became clear.

Initially there was doubt that we’d even have a season, then whether filming could take place amid social distancing in the paddock.

Finally, the then-Liberty Media CEO Chase Carey confirmed a thrid season at the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix last year.

“Following on the strong results of the first two seasons of the Netflix show Drive to Survive the film crews are already at work filming the third season,” he said.

Film crews could be seen in the paddock during the race weekends and the series was been edited during the winter break. On February 18 Box to Box films, the production company, confirmed that the series was now ready to air, with clip of the edit studio, showing Roman Grosjean’s fiery crash at the Bahrain Grand Prix on screen.

And that, ladies and gents, is a wrap.
❤️🏁#DriveToSurvive #F12020 pic.twitter.com/NPfIgeK5yE

— F1 Drive To Survive (@BoxToBoxFilms) February 18, 2021

Keep checking back on this page to find updates on what should be the best ever instalment of the world’s fastest – and most exciting – Netflix series: Drive to Survive.