YMMV / Formula 1: Drive to Survive

• Broken Base:
  • Existing F1 fans have mixed opinions on the show, with some outright hating it for making everything fit tropes and look Hollywood simple and neat with the drivers and principals turned into easy to digest "cartoon characters" rather than "real" and "raw". While others are just happy that it is bringing new fans to the sport in the wake of it losing them over the years due to Mercedes' unquestionable dominance, and others really like the behind the scenes bits even though they know everything should be taken with a grain of salt, as it's not like anyone being filmed has forgotten the cameras are there.
  • Some of the drivers are pleased with the show for bringing in new fans to their sport and are willing to overlook the way the editing and choices shape them into a character that fits the narrative the show is trying to build, others like Max Verstappen have been vocal about their displeasure with the show for the way it twists certain drivers to feel more antagonistic, which happened to himself in the first season which he even points out was easier for them because he's more closed of emotionally in public and in front of cameras than drivers like Daniel Ricciardo.
  • With the release of Season 3, a lot of longtime F1 fans have questioned the show's portrayal of the relationship between McLaren drivers Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris during the 2020 season. One of the most common complaints raised was that their "rivalry" was being blown out of proportion for the sake of making an interesting narrative (especially with Sainz at the time already Ferrari-bound for 2021.).
  • Season 4 has not been well received by fans and has the worst audience rating of the series. Detractors cite the season's Manipulative Editing,(including stretching a moment that lasted 10 seconds in real life into a 30+ second montage), heavy use of melodrama and omitting several races while revisiting others multiple times.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "He does NOT Fok Smash my door!"^Explanation Guenther Steiner grilled drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen for another dismal result during a certain race weekend. Magnussen did not take this too well and slammed the office door on the way out. Understandably, Steiner got pissed and threw a Cluster F-Bomb when he followed him out.
  • "Now we are a bunch of Fokking Vankers!"^Explanation From another one of Steiner's rants after a particularly horrible weekend for the Haas team.
  • "If you finish first... [Dramatic Pause] ...you will win the race."^Explanation Used to poke fun at F1 journalist Will Buxton, a regular interviewee on the show, for his frequent use of dramatic pauses and Captain Obvious statements. It's since been turned into a Snowclone of the form "If you [action]... you will [obvious consequence]", though the original is still the most popular.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Season 6 will be the last time viewers will ever see Guenther, due to the fact that he ends up being replaced by Ayao Komatsu as Team Principal for Haas on the 2024 season.
  • Ditto with Franz Tost who has been Team Principal for 18 years since Toro Rosso, the 2023 season will be the last ride for both him and AlphaTauri, with the team being rebranded as Visa Cash App RB the next season and Laurent Mekies taking over.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Lando Norris, who was a rookie in 2019, is particularly camera-friendly and prone to joking, and his friendship with his teammate Carlos Sainz and interactions with that year's other two rookies (George Russell and Alexander Albon, along with second-year Charles Leclerc) were an off-track highlight for many fans that year. He only gets seconds of screentime outside of his car, at least until Season 3.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: As there is quite a lot going on in any given year for each F1 team and the show's seasons are only ten episodes long, quite a few potential storylines are left by the wayside, even ones fans of the sport are expecting to see covered. One example is how in Season 2, Claire Williams practically hands Netflix storylines to follow with her two new drivers, pointing out Kubica's return to the sport after his near fatal accident is just the kind of miraculous recovery one would expect from a fictional sports tale. The series then waits until the 9th episode to show this and doesn't even document the fact that Kubica earned the team their single point in the constructor's championship that year.
  • Fans are not happy with what the show decided to focus on from the 2021 season, which is considered one of the most exciting in recent memory. Some races, like the chaotic race at Baku, were omitted entirely; while Nikita Mazepin, one of the least popular (and infamous for the wrong reasons) drivers on the grid, gets an entire episode.