F1 announces fourth season of Drive to Survive Netflix series

Formula 1’s popular ‘Drive to Survive’ series on Netflix will return for a fourth season in 2022, grand prix racing’s chiefs have announced.

In a short tweet issued on Thursday morning, F1 said the documentary series will be coming back again next year.

The Netflix series was first aired in 2019 and has been viewed as a great success story for F1’s new owners Liberty Media, as it has triggered a boom in interest amid both young audiences and the American market.

It has also won numerous awards, picking up a BAFTA TV Craft Award and a Telly Award this year on the back of its ongoing success.

The fly-on-the-wall nature of the series, with Netflix picking up story lines from each team over the course of the season, has offered some unique perspectives on events inside F1 teams.

F1’s director of media rights, Ian Holmes, told Motorsport.com earlier this year that the series had opened the sport’s eyes about the potential audience growth the sport could gain.

“What it really demonstrated to us is how many fans might be out there, and how can we talk to existing fans but in a different way,” he said.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B, Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB16B, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL35M, and the rest of the field at the start

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

“What the Netflix series is showing us is that there is this appetite for content that has no place to be in a [regular] pre-race show. But there is a place for it and people are genuinely fascinated by it.

“The other thing that it’s really demonstrated to us is that what interests people the most is the individuals, the personalities, the rock stars, the drivers, or in some cases maybe a few team principals.

"It's that sort of personality driven programming.

“What I think it has so successfully done is shone a light on that, and this is where the teams deserve an awful lot of credit for their openness and their agreement to embrace the project and allow cameras and microphones in to places they haven't been allowed before.”

No date has been announced for when Series 4 will be broadcast, but it has traditionally been released in the build-up to the new season. F1's 2022 campaign is expected to begin in Bahrain next March.