Every "character" in this show is a real person, therefore this page is exclusively documenting the manner in which the show frames them.
Beware of unmarked spoilers ahead!
Drivers
Daniel Ricciardo (#3)
Australian driver whose decision to leave Red Bull for Renault was one of the overarching stories of season 1.Teams:
- Badass Driver: He has multiple Grand Prix wins and considered one of the best at timing braking and overtakes in the business.
- Large Ham: well, he's Daniel Ricciardo after all.
Max Verstappen (#33)note
Dutch driver, and the son of former F1 driver Jos Verstappen.Teams:
- Badass Driver: While the Mercedes team still has the vastly dominant car, Max is talented enough to consistently fight with them for podiums. While driving for Red Bull, he's also gotten to drive F1 cars in very abnormal conditions that it is very much not designed for - like a snowy ski-slope.
- It Runs in the Family: His father Jos is a former F1 driver.
- Out of Focus: After Season 1 due to his refusal to take part in the series because of it misrepresenting him and his relationship with Daniel Ricciardo. Season 4 uses Christian Horner & audio from interviews with other sources to represent his perspective of his title fight with Lewis Hamilton.
Carlos Sainz Jr. (#55)
Spanish driver. His father and uncle are both rally drivers, with his father being 2-time World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz Sr.
Teams:
- Badass Driver: By definition of being an F1 driver.
- It Runs in the Family: As several drivers point out anyone who is racing in F1 is a little crazy, given the danger and high level of competitiveness and commitment required, and Sainz is far from the first member of his family to dedicate decades of their lives to racing.
Charles Leclerc (#16)
Charles Leclerc is a Monégasque driver currently signed to Ferrari, whose rookie year in Formula 1 corresponded with the first season of Drive to Survive. He is the godson of Formula 1 driver Jules Bianchi who tragically died at age 25 due to injuries sustained in a crash in the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix.
Teams:
- Badass Driver: Won the 2016 GP3 Series championship, 2017 Formula 2 championship, two F1 Grands Prix and made it to the podium in F1 12 times in 3 years, finishing 4th overall in the 2019 championship.
- The Cutie: In spite of losing two of his childhood friends and his father - who all kickstarted his racing career, he still maintains a notoriously humble and innocent personality which has gained him a lot of fans.
- Determinator: in spite of the setbacks he has suffered, he doesn't let them consume him.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: Of course, his humility means that he's also very hard on himself. He has had many outbursts, which usually happen after he makes a mistake that costs him a race weekend; a stand-out example is him saying "I am stupid" after crashing out of Q2 in the 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, or in the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix after losing his podium on the last corners of the last lap after a locking up his brakes.
Pierre Gasly (#10)
A French driver who rose through the Red Bull junior racing program. After Daniel Riccardo, who drove for Red Bull for 5 years prior, signed with Renault for 2019 Pierre Gasly was moved to replace him, though this placement didn't even last through a single season.
Teams:
- Badass Driver: Despite his difficulty adjusting to the Red Bull team and car, he has more than proven himself a competitive driver in Toro Rosso. At the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix, Gasly managed to hold off Lewis Hamilton and finish in second.
- Dare to Be Badass: One of the last things Anthoine Hubert told him when he got demoted to Toro Rosso from Red Bull, shortly before his fatal crash, was "to prove them (Marko, Horner) wrong". And he did.
- We Used to Be Friends: With Esteban Ocon. Not helped that he ends up in the same room as him in Alpine. Their collision in the 2023 Australian Grand Prix further widened that rift.
Nico Hülkenberg (#27)
A German driver who won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2015.
Teams:
- Badass Driver: By definition of being an F1 driver.
Fernando Alonso (#14)
Spanish driver and two time Formula One World Championship winner, taking the title in 2005 and 2006. In racing outside of Formula One he is a two time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner in 2018 and 2019, and the champion of the 2018–19 FIA World Endurance Championship. He's also raced the IndyCar Indianapolis 500 three times, but hasn't made any significant results. Fernando is one of only two active drivers who have attained two of the three victories that would make up the "Triple Crown of Motorsport" (an unofficial achievement that has only ever been attained by Graham Hill), only missing a win at the Indianapolis 500.
Teams:
- Badass Driver: An extremely competitive driver in multiple series and a two time Formula One World Champion and two time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner.
Esteban Ocon
Esteban Ocon is a French driver who drove for Force India in season one. He lost his drive with the team to Lance Stroll when Lawrence Stroll lead a group of investors to purchase Force India's assets and he was unable to secure a position on the grid for 2019, although he still managed to snag the Mercedes reserve driver slot.
Teams:
- Badass Driver: F1 driver
Sergio Pérez
Sergio Pérez Mendoza is a Mexican driver who was a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy until 2012, during which time he raced on the Sauber team. He signed with Force India in 2013 and has remained with the team through several changes of hands and names.
Teams:
- Badass Driver: BY definition of being an F1 driver, and also one of the only two Mexicans to win a Grand Prix.
- Out of Focus: While the drama of team ownership and driver seats and competition at Force India was one of the stories followed in season one the second season had very little footage focusing on the team as they focused on rebuilding.
Lewis Hamilton (#44)
Lewis Hamilton is a British driver and the seven-time reigning Formula One World Champion, having won in 2008, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.
Teams:
- The Ace/Renaissance Man: Oh so much. Not only he's widely regarded as one of if not the greatest Formula One driver of all time, but he's also put his name out there as a part-time musician (he landed a guest spot in Christina Aguilera's latest album as XNDA, to everyone's surprise) and as a social activist, having used his worldwide fame to give more light and exposure to the Black Lives Matter movement and even participating in several protests.
- Badass Driver: He's a stand-out example even by F1's usual standards. Seven-time Formula One World Champion, having won the championship on multiple teams and in multiple cars. He's managed to equal, and then surpass, the F1 Grand Prix, matching Michael Schumacher's 91 victories.
- Out of Focus: As Mercedes did not participate in the Netflix deal for season one, Hamilton spends the season as that driver out front of most races everyone would really like to overtake without getting any screen time of his own.
Valtteri Bottas (#77)
Valtteri Bottas is a Finnish racing driver who got his start in F1 driving for Williams before being brought onto the Mercedes team to replace Nico Rosberg when the reigning world champion opted to retire from racing in order to focus on his family and leave the sport on a high note.
Teams:
- Badass Driver: By definition of being an F1 driver.
- Out of Focus: Bottas is not featured in season one as Mercedes did not participate, so he only appears in the background, and in the following season is well overshadowed in Mercedes coverage by his teammate Hamilton, team principal Wolff and team reserve driver who didn't even race in F1 that year Ocon.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: Bottas regularly makes it to the podium - which is an impressive achievement, but he's vastly overshadowed by his teammate Hamilton who is considered to possibly be the best driver in the history of the sport. It doesn't help that he was brought in to replace Nico Rosberg, the last driver to defeat Hamilton for the championship.
Alexander Albon (#23)
A Thai-British driver who got his first F1 drive in 2019 with Toro Rosso but was dramatically shifted to Red Bull's primary team mid-season replacing Pierre Gasly.
Teams:
- Alliterative Name: Alexander Albon Ansusinha
- Badass Driver: F1 driver, and the only Asian driver to score multiple podiums.
George Russell (#63)
A British driver who signed with Williams in 2019.
Teams:
- Badass Driver: Was the reigning Formula 2 champion when Williams signed him for their F1 team.
- Biting-the-Hand Humor: At one point while he's joking around with Claire (his team principal) and sabotaging her slot car race she asks if he remembers who pays him.
Robert Kubica (#88)
A Polish driver who was working as a test driver for Williams after a near fatal Career-Ending Injury in a crash in 2011. Williams signed him as of their drivers in 2019, where he earned the team their single point of the season. He left after the season to focus on DTM, but maintains a presence in the sport as one of the reserve/test drivers for Alfa Romeo.
Teams:
- Badass Driver: F1 driver, but also a rally aficionado outside of the track. In fact, he won the 2013 WRC2 Driver's Championship!
- Determinator: Kubica actually made it back on the grid after 8 years after a crash in 2011 left him with a mostly severed arm and he was unable to take his expected seat with Ferrari due to his injuries and difficult recovery. At first many believed that would be a Career-Ending Injury, but he never stopped racing (in fact his first post-injury race was a minor rally in 2012, which he won). Only his Formula 1 career was expected to end due to him never recovering the full motion of his arm.
Lando Norris (#4)
A British driver who signed with McLaren in 2019.
Teams:
- Ascended Extra: More prominently featured in season 3 as his results improve and he helps McLaren clinch third place in the 2020 constructors' championship.
- Badass Driver: F1 driver
- Out of Focus: Lando's appearance in season 2 amounted to a cameo, in which another driver asked him if he was going to be in that season of Drive to Survive and Lando replied "Fuck Netflix".
- Plucky Comic Relief: His only line in the second season is a joke. He, along with Ricciardo, are considered this for the entirety of F1.
- Pretty Boy: Being one of the youngest drivers of the grid, he's the butt of many jokes regarding his juvenile looks (just ask Ricciardo).
Nicholas Latifi (#6)
- Bad Ass Driver: By definition of being a Formula One Driver.
Mick Schumacher (#47)
- Bad Ass Driver: By definition of being a Formula One Driver.
- Legacy Character: The son of 7 time F1 World Champion Michael Schumacher. Mick uses the 'MSC' abbreviation for his name for TV coverage, just as his father did before him.
Nikita Mazepin (#9)
- Bad Ass Driver: By definition of being a Formula One Driver.
Zhou Guanyu (#9)
- Bad Ass Driver: By definition of being a Formula One Driver.
Sergey Sirotkin
Teams:
- Badass Driver: By definition of being an F1 driver.
- Put on a Bus: While Sirotkin was a reserve driver at the time, he didn't appear in the series between losing his Williams seat after 2018 & leaving Williams entirely after 2020.
Marcus Ericsson
Marcus Ericsson is a Swiss former Formula One driver who raced in the championship from 2014 to 2018.
Teams:
- Badass Driver: By definition of being an F1 and IndyCar driver.
- Put on a Bus: While Ericsson was not completely disassociated with Formula 1 after losing his seat on the grid after 2018 as he was still a reserve driver, he did not appear in Season 2 and didn't appear in Season 3 or season 4 as he has moved to IndyCar full-time.
Jules Bianchi
A French F1 driver who tragically passed away at the age of 25 due to injuries sustained in the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix. He was the godfather of current F1 driver Charles Leclerc.
Teams:
- Badass Driver: An accomplished racer and F1 driver who was expected to become the future of Ferrari.
- Posthumous Character: Jules is one of the very few former F1 drivers to be spoken about and shown footage of, and he passed away three years before Season 1 filming began.
Niki Lauda
A former F1 driver and three time champion who has been one of the key management figures helping develop the incredibly dominant Mercedes team.
Teams:
- Badass Driver: Niki was a three time F1 champion who got right back in a car as soon as he was able after a near fatal accident in which he was badly burned and suffered damage to his lungs.
Teams
Alfa Romeo (formerly Sauber)
Drivers- Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Dark Red
Alpine (formerly Renault)
Race Drivers- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Blue, formerly Yellow
AlphaTauri (formerly Toro Rosso)
DriversRed Bull's secondary team. The fact that their drivers are contracted to Red Bull makes for a dramatic shake up when Pierre Gasly failed to perform to Christian Horner's expectations during the 2019 season and he was dropped back to their secondary team with rookie Alexander Albon pulled up from the team to replace him at Red Bull.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Blue
- The Trope Formerly Known as X: Before assuming their new identity as Red Bull's feeder team they raced as Minardi, a team that has gained notoriety as a plucky underdog in the late 90s and early 2000s; despite their perpetual backmarker status, they still gained a lot of sympathy for their great management, friendly atmosphere and ability to constantly participate in races in spite of having a ridiculously shoestring budget. After being sold to Red Bull in 2006 they changed their name to Toro Rosso - which literally translates to Red Bull in Italian. In 2020 they were renamed again as AlphaTauri to help promote Red Bull's burgeoning fashion brand.
Aston Martin (formerly Force India and Racing Point)
Drivers- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Green. Formerly pink, which really stood out on the track.
- The Something Force: The team formerly known as Force India, a name which slid away with the team's financial difficulties in 2018.
- The Trope Formerly Known as X: In order to make sure the view isn't confused about which team "Racing Point" is despite them being far less focused on in Season 2 and having a new name it is made clear that they are the former Force India team. Most teams on the grid save Ferrari and Williams have gone through such name changes in the past but only Alfa Romeo/Sauber, Toro Rosso/Alpha Tauri and Force India/Racing Point have done so during the recording of the Netflix documentary.
Ferrari
Drivers- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Their traditional "Rosso Corsa" is a staple of Italian motorsport, having been in use ever since the early 1900s. While other Italian manufacturers like Maserati, Lamborghini and Abarth have all started using other colors since the Fifties to differentiate themselves, Ferrari has stuck with the iconic shade of red that is now one of their marquee symbols.
- Fan Community Nicknames: As expressed in the documentary the Ferrari team's loyal fanbase is called the Tifosi.
- Long Runner: They are the only team on the grid to have participated in every single Formula One season, starting with the inagural season in 1950.
- Rearing Horse: Their logo, known by many as the "Cavallino Rampante" ("Prancing Pony"), is easily the most famous example of this trope. It was adopted by Enzo Ferrari meeting the parents of a World War I veteran who used to paint his planes with a prancing horse; they suggested adopt the horse as a symbol of good luck, and the rest is history.
Haas
DriversThe sole American team in F1.
McLaren
Drivers- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Their "Papaya Orange" was the racing color of choice of the team's founder, Bruce McLaren. The color is nowadays synonymous with McLaren's racing endeavors, much like Rosso Corsa is associated with Ferrari.
Mercedes
Drivers- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Silver and neon teal. The former is Germany's historic racing color, owing to their entries in the 1930s having raced predominantly in cars without any body paint. The latter color is instead the main color of their lead sponsor Petronas.
- Colorful Theme Naming: Their team is nicknamed the Silver Arrows.
- Germanic Efficiency: Played with. Even though they are the strongest team on the grid by a wide margin and are the factory team of one of Germany's biggest car brands, their HQ is in the United Kingdom.
- Invincible Hero: They are the most dominant force in the hybrid era, having won every drivers and constructors title since 2014.
- The Trope Formerly Known as X: Before being bought out and rebranded by the German car manufacturer they went with many other names. The team itself traces its origins from Tyrrell, a consistent challenger in the 70s which was then bought out in the late 90s by Honda Racing, and later on BAR-Honda (British-American Racing) and finally Brawn GP.
Red Bull
Drivers- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Navy
- The Trope Formerly Known as X: The team was founded in 1996 as Stewart Grand Prix by former world champion Jackie Stewart and his son Paul before becoming Jaguar Racing in late 1999 after being bought by the British car manufacturer. Red Bull then bought the team from Jaguar in 2004 and rebranded it as Red Bull Racing.
Williams (formerly RoKIT Williams & Martini Williams)
Race DriversA former top player that fell to backmarker status in 2018 and is struggling with financial deficits. The team was the last holdout of "small" founder family owned and operated teams.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Blue, though their cars are primarily white these days.
- New Tech Is Not Cheap: The Williams team just doesn't have the money to develop their cars that larger teams like Mercedes, Renault and Ferrari do, which has caused them issues and put them in a position where they are struggling to get even a single point a season.
- The Smurfette Principle: While there are other women working in Formula 1, they are uncommon and never put in the spotlight. Claire is the only female team principal (technically deputy principal), something brought up several times in Season 1. She's also the only woman in Formula 1 to be interviewed for or named in the show. That said, Claire is not the first female team principal, as that title goes to Monisha Kaltenborn who was the team principal of Sauber (now Alfa Romeo) from 2012 until the team's sale to Longbow Finance in 2017.