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F1 as a sport and a business has been booming in the last few years. The sport has become profitable for most teams. We're looking at a scenario where almost every team is now worth a billion. Among all of this, there has been an advent of new docuseries about the sport.
Netflix's Drive to Survive has been a crucial tool for the sport as it tries to reach a completely new demographic. It has also helped open doors when it comes to bringing in a completely new branch of fans to the sport. Movies and documentaries have almost always played a role in generating interest in a sport.
We've had 'Rush' depicting the story of Niki Lauda and James Hunt on the big screen and how that brought a new wave of fans to F1. We've also had Ford vs Ferrari recently as well, taking a look at the motorsport story of the two automotive giants battling it out in the 24 hours of Le Mans.
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More often than not, however, these documentaries/movies have not been as accurate as they could be. There's an element of dramatization and portraying these drivers, who are as flawed and as good as any other human being, in a very monochromatic nature.
They're either good or bad. And that's just not how real-life people should be treated. In what appears to be one of the more adverse impacts of this, Alain Prost has recently stated that he's looking to leave social media forever, as getting abused by Brazilian fans on a daily basis has become too much at this stage.
It was appreciable to see the F1 governing body's president, Mohammad Ben Sulayem, come out in support of Prost as well. As part of the FIA's 'United Against Online Abuse' campaign, the governing body seems to be taking steps to tackle what has become an issue with the sport in general.
With that being said, what has happened to Prost (and he's not the only victim of it) raises an important question. How much creative freedom is too much to the point that it starts conflicting with reality?
Alain Prost facing backlash from Brazilian F1 fans
For F1 fans who were around in the early 2010s, this might be something that they probably could relate to more than anyone else. It was during that time that the first Ayrton Senna documentary dropped and captured the imagination.
That was the first time that the "Senna-Prost" rivalry was in front of us. There was a problem, however, in the portrayal. In the name of creative freedom, a lot of context was missing. While Senna was rightly portrayed as a hero, Alain Prost's portrayal was criminally incorrect.
As soon as the documentary was out, Prost was targeted by the fans. The F1 legend was ironically a part of the movie production but came out in the media, horrified at how he had been portrayed.
Fast forward a decade or so, and we have another docuseries talking about the life of Senna on Netflix. Once again, the portrayal of his nemesis is horrifyingly incorrect. This time around, though, social media is a completely different beast.
Unlike the early 2010s, almost everyone now has the internet, and almost everyone has let go of any inhibitions when it comes to the language that they use. As a result, the rampant abuse that Alain Prost has been subject to has been horrible and forced the four-time F1 champion into a position where he wants to keep a distance from social media.
Drive to Survive's horrifyingly inaccurate portrayal
The other glaring example is the F1 docuseries "Drive to Survive" on Netflix. The series has its place in the sport now, as the number of fans that have started following Formula 1 from the series is massive. The series attracts a certain demographic of an audience for sure, and one cannot claim that there hasn't been a positive impact that the series has left.
There is the darker side to all of this as well, and that side stems from the fact that the depiction within the series is just not accurate. The seventh season is arguably one of the worst when it comes to lacking any level of factual accuracy. F1 champion Max Verstappen is portrayed incorrectly, and so is Lando Norris.
The facts are twisted in one way or the other, and then, most importantly, even the F1 drivers aren't too impressed by the way they are being portrayed in the series. Over the years, the out-of-context quotes have meant backlash for quite a few people in the community, and that's just not ideal for anyone.
The severe impact in the day of social media
The problem with the series is that if there are people who have followed F1, they can easily vet whether there's truth to some of the stuff that is being shown on screen, but there are, however, a lot of people who just can't. Not everyone follows the sport with that degree of focus on the details, and thus when a portrayal depicts Max Verstappen as the antagonist, they believe it.
Even in the case of the Ayrton Senna docuseries on Netflix, if Alain Prost is portrayed in a negative light, the fans would believe it as well. Not many are diligent to go back and fact-check what they've seen, and they should not be expected to.
On the contrary, these fans would get influenced; however, when that happens, the result is the incessant attacks that the likes of Prost face.
What is the solution?
It is an interesting puzzle to solve because there is, in some way, a cost-benefit analysis that a sport like F1 would have to do. On one side, you cannot deny the fact that a docuseries or a movie made about a particular sport only ends up enhancing the sport. There's no two ways about that.
At the same time, there's the question mark over how someone needs to be portrayed. The words 'creative freedom' is often thrown around when it comes to discussing these docuseries, but it is certainly important. At some stage, there needs to be a discussion on the consequences of how a factually inaccurate depiction could unleash an unsolicited and rabid hate on someone.
Having a creative freedom in your pursuit is not a bad thing. However, maybe it's about time some ownership comes with it as well.
