I love F1, am not American and well up to date with F1 history and past and current rivalries. The focus of a team of content makers, Netflix in this case, really decided if we were going to watch the decline/rise of a few hand picked favourites like Daniel Ricciardo, Esteban Ocon and Haas team to name some (and of course American Zak Brown is a regular in the show, even though his team is tanking), or if we would have had the chance to follow the rise or heights of drivers who actually drive to win all these races and seasons. I, for one, would have rather seen drivers like Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton in the role of protagonist instead of in the roles of mere extra's. Not only did I want to get to know these two exciting, already historic drivers better, but as a viewer I also wanted to see more of their battles covered. Major races are skipped in this series, or the makers only focus on the guys battling for 6th or 7th place. A missed chance.
We are left with a lot of bickering, disingenuous drama and meh stories of a few Netflix-selected selected drivers and teams. Who frankly were rather boring in comparison. Overall I liked the premise of this series, but was stunned that the Netflix crew dedicated so much time and attention to drivers who were not at the forefront of the championship races. It is great to get to know carlos Sainz or Daniel Ricciardo better, but major drivers like Lewis Hamilton and Max verstappen were treated like background noise, which became increasingly annoying while watching.
Why was this? Were Max and Lewis so serious about their work that they couldn't bear having a netflix camera team in their neck? Were they not so pleased with your drama creating tactics and fake 'good guy/bad guy' approach? Painting Max like some obnoxious kid who caused the tears of fan-favourite Ricciardo was pretty annoying tbh. It also does not age very well, watching the first season at the end of 2021, with the knowledge of today. But even back then, several former F1 world champions already called Max a once in a generation talent. They were right and I wonder if Netflix can pull out their own hairs that instead of documenting the rise of such an epic driver, or documenting the victories of a historic driver like Hamilton, they were fussing about fake rivalries with drivers competing for 7th place. No offense but it is almost like the makers moved in a parallel universe;
one where Netflix likes to put the focus, right next to the real championships where the rest of the world puts its focus on. A missed chance.