"Drive to Survive" producers: 2025 F1 title winner "didn’t matter" to Netflix’s story

The producers of Netflix's Drive to Survive have insisted that it did not matter to them how the championship ended in 2025, explaining that the narrative would have worked for the eighth season of the docuseries if Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri or Max Verstappen had won.

Executive producer James Gay-Rees and co-executive producer Tom Rogers spoke to F1.com about the making of the eighth series of Drive to Survive.

"There’s a joke in an episode towards the end of the season, ‘Was this scripted by Netflix?’" Rogers said. 

"It really didn’t matter to us which way the chips fell last year," he continued. "If Max had done it, you’d have had the greatest comeback of all time, and that’s an incredible story. Then, with Lando or Oscar, either way it was going to be somebody’s first title, and that’s an amazing end to the story as well.

"Lando’s been a big supporter of the series, always taking part in it from the start, but I honestly think, however that last race of the season had manifested, it would have been good for us and good for the sport."

Gay-Rees added: "It was a great season, and great to be on the inside of it, as always. Obviously so much of it came down to the McLaren narrative, and they were really good to work with. Zak Brown, the two drivers, the support staff, the communications people, the driver managers, they were really, really fantastic.

"Seeing Max and Red Bull reel them in as the season went on was pretty special – pretty terrifying for McLaren, but pretty entertaining for the rest of us! And you have to give even more respect to Max for the way he dealt with it; he seemed to do it with a bit of a smile on his face and a sense of humour, which was nice to see.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing , Drive to Survive Season 8

Photo by: Netflix

"I think every potential title outcome was equally intriguing. Like a lot of people, I thought Oscar was going to do it, and the reasons why his challenge fell away are pretty complicated.

"Max came back the way that he did, and then you were thinking, ‘Is Lando going to hold his nerve and get it done?’ But it was a win, win, win for us."

The eighth season of Drive to Survive was released on Netflix on 27 February, before the 2026 Formula 1 season begins with the Australian Grand Prix from 6-8 March.