"A vital part on the growth of awareness" - F1 CEO on the sport continuing with Drive to Survive

The Netflix F1 docudrama series, "Drive to Survive," has been an unexpected yet enormous success. The sport's CEO Stefano Domenicali has, however, cautioned that the series may not last if it doesn’t continue to “add value” to the sport.

As Netflix prepares to debut the fourth season of the massively popular series, Domenicali wants the streaming giant to renegotiate its contracts with the FOM. Speaking to Autosport, he said:

“There is no doubt that Drive to Survive has been a vital part on the growth of awareness, mainly on the new audiences, and also in other new markets like US for sure. I think that it’s important for us to be with our Netflix friends, up to the moment where we believe that we’ll make sure that it’s a differentiating factor.”

He further went on to say:

“If it’s becoming just a different way to speak about F1 without adding, or giving to the platform any added value, maybe I think it’s better to renegotiate and see with Netflix and with the other partners what could be a possibility to do something different in the future.”

Domincali praised Drive to Survive for its impact on bringing in new audiences to the sport – something that the sport had tried and failed to do on its own over the last decade or so. He, however, stressed that it was important for the two parties to reassess their positions before moving forward.

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Barcelona test “proving ground” for F1’s new regulations: Damon Hill

Former F1 world champion Damon Hill said holding the first test at the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit was the best decision. He felt that the circuit was “perfect” as a testbed due to its unique characteristics to test the effectiveness of the new regulations.

Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, where he is a regular contributor, the Briton said:

“The most important thing for a place like Barcelona, is whether or not you can continue to get close to someone if you’re faster through the corner, because basically the whole circuit is all corner. So Barcelona will be the best test, actually, of whether or not these regs are working.”

The sport is hoping to fix some of the long-standing issues that have plagued the sport across the last decade with radical new regulations. There is still uncertainty, however, over whether the new rules have served their original intentions.

While the early signs from Barcelona have so far been positive, a clearer picture can be expected at the “official” pre-season test in Bahrain next weekend.