Toto Wolff has hit out at the apparent misrepresentation of F1 on Netflix by comparing Drive to Survive to a reality TV show.
Producers are currently filming a fifth instalment of the fly-on-the-wall series, with the first launch coming back in March 2019 following Lewis Hamilton's world title win the previous year. And bosses have largely been credited for helping attract a new audience to the sport.
But the series has also come under fire as well with some critics believing it has exaggerated rivalries and off-track feuds. Indeed, the likes of Max Verstappen have long refused to be interviewed by the Netflix crew.
A primary feature of the latest series, which reviews the dramatic 2021 campaign, was the ongoing verbal feud between Wolff and opposite number Christian Horner. The pair's rivalry intensified in the closing weeks of the season as Verstappen and Hamilton went head-to-head for the world championship.
“It’s athletes in high performance machines. It’s about life and death, and on top of that we added Keeping Up With The Kardashians,” Wolff told the Financial Times . The American reality TV show was constantly panned by critics since its inception in 2007, for staging scenes and family dramas.
The series focused on the personal and professional lives of the Kardashian–Jenner family, and ran for 20 seasons after it premiered on the E! cable network.
Wolff, 50, did however credit Netflix, and other media companies, for helping expand F1 coverage, especially in the US: " In a way, we’ve never reached out to or excited American audiences. Formula 1 is a niche sport – it’s a high-tech, high-income demographic, highly academic," he continued.
"I thought it would be easier to tap an audience in big cities like New York, but we never really got there. Then Liberty took over, didn’t really move the needle.
"And then came Netflix, came Covid and people binge. Started watching the gusts. And then all of a sudden we have such great momentum in America that no one expected.”
World champion Verstappen has previously explained his reservations with the series, saying the edited footage can prove misleading: "The problem is they will always position you as you wish, so whatever you say, they will try to make you look careless or try to make you," he claimed.
"Whatever suits the story of the series. So I really, I’ve never liked it. I prefer to do face-to-face interviews with anyone who wants to know me.”
Despite the criticism, Drive to Survive was honoured at this year's Sports Emmy Awards, winning the Outstanding Documentary Series - Serialized category. It was also deemed Best Edited Non-Scripted Series at the American Cinema Editors Awards.
