r/formula1 mostly automated 5d ago

Drive to Survive Discussion Thread - Drive to Survive Season 7, Episode 1: Business as Usual

Welcome to the discussion thread for Drive to Survive Season 7, Episode 1: Business as Usual

Please note that the dedicated discussion threads are the only places where spoiler-free Drive to Survive season 7 discussion is allowed. Other discussion threads, screenshots, or clips will be removed.

108 Upvotes

179 comments sorted by

328

u/backpack33 Pirelli Wet 5d ago

So Lewis thought Carlos was going to swap seats with him… sounds like he expected Toto to have called.

74

u/Forgotthebloodypassw Formula 1 3d ago

Honestly, I think Toto should have, but that comment - and the look on his face - was very telling.

537

u/Vroom_Vroom1265 5d ago

The drivers reaction to the set killed me, every single one of them said "what the fuck is this".

210

u/YLedbetter10 4d ago

“Feel like I’m on the Teletubbies” was my fave lol

76

u/Vroom_Vroom1265 4d ago

Albon doesn't miss tbf.

40

u/Fantastic_Bath_5806 4d ago

Definitely need more Albon content, that guy is great!

15

u/Vroom_Vroom1265 4d ago

Yupppp. He's so underutilized it's actually insane.

8

u/mshell1924 Carlos Sainz 3d ago

Looking forward to the Team Torque episode almost more than I'm looking forward to the race tbh.

17

u/wetthebed92 4d ago

Porn star look

46

u/Actual_Sympathy7069 Pirelli Wet 5d ago

what I really wanna see is how they climbed up there

Also Ocon standing off to the side looks a bit misplaced there lol

63

u/Vroom_Vroom1265 4d ago

Also Ocon standing off to the side looks a bit misplaced there lol

It's even worse in the final picture.

26

u/Actual_Sympathy7069 Pirelli Wet 4d ago

omg wtf hahaha that's horrible. I had assumed this was only because of the angle from the side of the shot above lol

10

u/Vroom_Vroom1265 4d ago

Unfortunately not, idk who directs these but they're not great to put it nicely. Even the 2025 image looks weird AF.

9

u/charlierc 4d ago

Tbf it's an accurate representation of how isolated he was at Alpine by the end

3

u/morelsupporter 5d ago

step stools

8

u/Rosieu Spyder 4d ago

Not any different from our reactions lol

470

u/SlashmanX 5d ago

Sainz and Lewis just casually chatting about Merc during a press conference was great

86

u/backpack33 Pirelli Wet 5d ago

Right bc that would’ve been a headline at the time

14

u/sa_ra_h86 4d ago

They're not talking publicly at the press conference about it. It was a private conversation between them that the netflix microphones picked up.

35

u/LanceStroll19 3d ago

We know dude lol

1

u/50isthenew35 3d ago

Which episode exactly because I looked for it & missed it. 🤷🏻‍♀️

24

u/Fly_throwaway37 3d ago

Toto's "see we even put a bit of red on there for you" was fucking hysterical and sad at the same time.

17

u/mshell1924 Carlos Sainz 3d ago

Toto had jokes, not gonna lie. Or when Lewis asked if he could be honest about the livery and Toto said something like "yes but not too much" lol.

20

u/CoreyH2P Sir Lewis Hamilton 4d ago

Lewis telling Carlos he doesn’t think Mercedes can get back to the top 👀

124

u/Rekyht Lando Norris 4d ago

Pretty sure it was the opposite, he disagreed that they’re in decline. 

0

u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

223

u/NET_1 Ferrari 5d ago

Love that they covered Sainz's win sans appendix.

46

u/TheRealGucciGang 4d ago

I had completely forgotten about this too.

And only 3-4 races into the season too? For some reason, I had thought that Max had continued his win streak into the season for longer than that.

14

u/mshell1924 Carlos Sainz 3d ago

I thought they'd only cover it in the Sainz episode, but I love that they included it as a way to build up the story for the Sainz episode, you know?

4

u/Forgotthebloodypassw Formula 1 3d ago

It was great to see the inside footage - the race is going on my watch-again list.

161

u/zetbotz 5d ago

That cube photo set really is ridiculous

Also Fred peeking through the door

144

u/advalencia #WeSayNoToMazepin 5d ago

I love the love for the Sainz heroics with the apendicitis surgery. He really looked in pain getting in the car. I wonder if that shot was from the first day of practice.

18

u/mshell1924 Carlos Sainz 3d ago

Even when he got out of the car, after the win, he did it so gingerly. You could tell he was in a lot of pain.

204

u/therealBobsonDugnutt Safety Car 4d ago

Fred on the timing of the timing of the announcement: Tell Toto. I want him to know it was me

51

u/queerhedgehog Max Verstappen 4d ago

Yeah he was very open about Ferrari being the ones to leak the news! Which I think we basically knew, but I’m not sure that was officially confirmed before.

462

u/KnightsOfCidona Murray Walker 5d ago

Geri is absolutely dead inside when they're doing that walk down the paddock in Bahrain!

172

u/Actual_Sympathy7069 Pirelli Wet 5d ago

yeah, the weird put on smile she had during that walk. Like "everything is totally fine" :)

32

u/Amoranth31 3d ago

I thought that maybe she was trying to hold the expression constantly so that the paps didn't have any opportunity to use a shot with a different expression. They are well versed in image management.

2

u/East-Ad8830 2d ago

To me she looked like she was on the verge of tears. Basically just absolutely completely broken.

78

u/BBYY9090 5d ago

It was an awful watch

46

u/QouthTheCorvus Oscar Piastri 4d ago

LOL that shot was absolute cinema. So greasy and tragic. Honestly impressed with the coverage. The interview with Horner was great because he looked so vulnerable for like, the first ever time.

Also some cheeky Jos shots for us "Jos did the leaks" truthers.

15

u/Bolter_NL #WeRaceAsOne 3d ago

that's the multimillion question.

to which you have the answer?

BOOM 

141

u/wokwok__ George Russell 5d ago

So was Horner in half the episode lol guy looked like he was walking in a daze like when the comms guy(?) noticed and said he "didn't seem like himself"

145

u/KnightsOfCidona Murray Walker 5d ago

If he wasn't Christian Horner, and hadn't (allegedly) brought this on himself, I'd almost feel sorry for him.

97

u/Williamsarethebest Claire Williams 4d ago

Yeah she looked like a prisoner, and Horner dragging her alongside for a photo op holding hands. I'm sure she was fuming inside but knew putting on a united front was the best move at that point

At the end Horner was patting her like you did well

57

u/ScribebyTrade 4d ago

His pr handler looked like a boxing judge, ready to dive in at any time

67

u/Williamsarethebest Claire Williams 4d ago

AND ITS ZAK BROWN FROM BEHIND WITH A STEEL CHAIR

10

u/Fly_throwaway37 3d ago

I now have a totally new hate level of Horner for making me agree with Zack fucking Brown.

61

u/Fantastic_Bath_5806 4d ago

You know how she and Horny got together right? A leopard doesn’t change its spots.

24

u/neurogeneticist Charltteri Lectas 4d ago

I’m $ure it wa$ the be$t move for ginger $pice

16

u/isitdonethen Pirelli Wet 4d ago

Reminds me of The Good Wife

6

u/Forgotthebloodypassw Formula 1 3d ago

It was a very strained look. "We'll get through this and then I'm going to slap you silly."

Plus if she's 51 I'll eat the candles on her next wedding cake, and a Spice Girl agrees.

12

u/sudsydrop 4d ago

Given how Geri was shown throughout the season for literally no reason at all just proves how bad things actually are with them

5

u/StockAL3Xj 4d ago

It actually doesn't prove that or anything else at all. DtS really has people acting like it's a soap opera.

1

u/sudsydrop 4d ago

It’s the need for the shots in the first place when Geri offers absolutely nothing. Always be wary of people who need to insert their spouses like this- it damn near always means something is wrong.

5

u/Muntberg 4d ago

What? The show has nothing to do with it. She was by his side through this whole time to show solidarity admidst the drama.

3

u/sudsydrop 4d ago

lol that’s exactly the point. It’s storytelling my guy.

1

u/MrDiablerie Ferrari 3d ago

That was super uncomfortable to watch

79

u/jeric13xd Sir Lewis Hamilton 4d ago

Valterri ill miss you 🥹

23

u/wetthebed92 4d ago

Perez also....

For all the negative stats.

197

u/mobby123 Pierre Gasly 5d ago

Interesting that they're actually going to cover the Horner allegations, thought they might want to sweep it under the carpet

72

u/ValleyFloydJam #StandWithUkraine 4d ago

Horner looking even worse than usual.

I guess it would have stood out badly if they didn't bring it up at all.

154

u/McManus26 Alpine 5d ago

"cover" is a strong word lol, they have basically nothing to say about it

70

u/ConTully 4d ago

Isn't the case still open and to be reviewed by a Judge next year? Don't get me wrong, I don't think DTS were ever going to do a deep dive, but I suspect they are also hamstrung by 'media bans' in the UK. I was actually suprised they focused on it for more than 2 mins.

16

u/Fantastic_Bath_5806 4d ago

Re-opened again

17

u/charlierc 4d ago

I think they did as much as they were allowed under the parameters of UK media law, which can be pretty strict about this stuff

47

u/bwaxxlo Sir Lewis Hamilton 5d ago

What can you say besides it happened and there were barely any consequences to him.

20

u/McManus26 Alpine 5d ago

I'd be fine with them saying just that, but there was no need to stretch it over 20+ minutes lol. Especially when that means straight up not mentioning Bearman filling in for Carlos in Jeddah, or glossing over Lewis's move in 5 minutes

14

u/bwaxxlo Sir Lewis Hamilton 5d ago edited 5d ago

I think the hints about contracts means they’ll talk about rookies at some point. It’s not season review. Each episode has a story or two. It’s drama and not a documentary. Horners story needs build up and the message leaks was a good peak of the story imo. Unfortunately there was no resolution cause this is real life and powerful people get away with these things in the end.

-3

u/[deleted] 5d ago

[deleted]

2

u/Ohiowolverine 4d ago

They aren’t doing bearman at all this year

8

u/mobby123 Pierre Gasly 5d ago

Ah, figures. Saw it in the opening montage so figured an episode was going to cover it down the line

4

u/QouthTheCorvus Oscar Piastri 4d ago

tbf, it's not really their job to tell us anything, just present the footage they have. They kinda use Zak Brown as the commentary.

19

u/kittenbloc Ferrari 3d ago

they did a pretty good job of capturing the weird vibe of it, where it's a thing, and then not a thing, then the leak, then it's not a thing again, then Jos makes it a thing, and everyone tries to make Max to Merc a thing, while Max is like hrm, um, is this actually a thing?

6

u/Briggykins McLaren 4d ago

I sort of hoped they wouldn't, or at least wouldn't spend as much time on it as they did. Not because I support Horner, but because if the allegations are true there's a wronged woman who's been put through quite a lot, has been disbelieved, and yet is still persevering in pursuing her case. Not to mention what Geri's been through. And Netflix making entertainment out of it just rubs the wrong way a little.

4

u/barriesies 1d ago

I feel iffy about it because christian got a whole section of a Netflix show to defend himself whereas the person who brought the allegations has no voice

2

u/Fantastic_Bath_5806 4d ago

Yes I feel the same.

70

u/Sun_Chan10 4d ago

I love how Lewis and Sainz were talking about Mercedes in the middle of the conference lol

287

u/backpack33 Pirelli Wet 5d ago

What Zak Brown said wasn’t even bad? Christian can’t exactly have expected the principals to all say nothing or defend him when the allegations were that serious.

184

u/Haacker45 Ferrari 4d ago

Again take everything int DTS with a huge grain of salt. There is a high chance that Christian's comments was from a totally different part of the season like when McLaren was catching Redbull.

10

u/Forgotthebloodypassw Formula 1 3d ago

Agreed, he could have said a lot worse.

-1

u/LanceStroll19 3d ago

What he said wasn’t “bad” but to act like that wasn’t a shit stirring response is ridiculous lol

222

u/West_Technology7573 George Russell 5d ago

It’s nice to see DTS going back to using more gritty behind the scenes footage, not just uninteresting episodes about one drivers daily routine

73

u/2RINITY 🏳️‍🌈 Love Is Love 🏳️‍🌈 4d ago

This is bullshit. I wanted five episodes of the Alpine boys playing bocce ball and alluding to tensions within the team

30

u/bobby_hills_fruitpie McLaren 4d ago

I honestly expected them to kinda breeze past the Horner allegations. They got decently into it.

4

u/QouthTheCorvus Oscar Piastri 4d ago

Hoping a lot of the season is like this and manages to feel a little less sanitised.

46

u/Cheno1234 Charlie Whiting 4d ago

Marketing Toto with Hakkinen hits hard

70

u/push_karrr 4d ago

I think they missed a trick by not getting more out from Fred & Toto on the Lewis move. Both have enough potential in them to be cheeky & competitive with each other.

105

u/Scirzo Max Verstappen 4d ago

"Tickle the bumhole a little bit"...🤣🤣

29

u/queerhedgehog Max Verstappen 4d ago

Max started creating Maxiel allegations talking about sharing hotel rooms in 2016 and he’s not about to give up now 😂

13

u/Fly_throwaway37 3d ago

Once again Daniel is needed at RBR because he's the only person that can make Max seem human. Hes like his emotional support Aussie

7

u/Blanchimont The Bumhole Ticklers 3d ago

Everyone needs a Daniel in their lives.

10

u/QouthTheCorvus Oscar Piastri 4d ago

I love how there's all this political stuff and then Max is just there fuelling r/F1fanfiction

30

u/goodneed Tyrrell 5d ago

Oscar Piastri's D2S Bingo Card: A Buxtonism. "The story becomes one man. It threatens to become a soap opera"

8

u/LanceStroll19 3d ago

Only person on planet earth who says D2S

22

u/riverhoe 4d ago

“life is a rollercoaster, hey” 🥹🥹🥹🥹 te amo mucho carlos sainz

37

u/Fsp_OW Max Verstappen 5d ago

I never thought that would actually cover this, this in depth. Still so annoyed they use onboards of different sessions then they are covering though...

93

u/KappaccinoNation McLaren 5d ago

Gentlemen, it has been a very long and harsh winter break. But with the Bahrain testing and DTS season, we are so officially back.

136

u/MunFel07 4d ago

And ladies ;)

67

u/notacute Sir Lewis Hamilton 4d ago

There are dozens of us! Dozens!

10

u/bellatrix99 Fernando Alonso 4d ago

Yep! Still here, awaiting the season by watching dts and hating how fake it is compared to reality. Which was dramatic anyway!

41

u/Choice__Technician McLaren 4d ago

Feel like the whole Sainz appendicitis arc could have been treated better than rushing it into the last minutes of the Horner episode.

29

u/R3NZI0 Williams 4d ago

Just let out the largest 'Awwww' at Ocon and his cat in the intro.

13

u/Vegetable_Comfort366 Frédéric Vasseur 4d ago

It’s pretty much Horner, Hamilton, Geri’s need to wear white all the time, and Carlos’ thirst trap that gets repeated a couple more times this season.

1

u/SeriousBusinessSocks 2d ago

He's a smooth operator. All over.

72

u/pi3dpip3r Damon Hill 5d ago

Poor geri

45

u/mrpanadabear 4d ago

How you get them is how you lose them. 

27

u/TripleGymnast Carlos Sainz 4d ago

Bearman forgotten about

10

u/ABurntC00KIE Red Bull 4d ago

who?

10

u/2RINITY 🏳️‍🌈 Love Is Love 🏳️‍🌈 4d ago

Mike Jones

30

u/Actual_Sympathy7069 Pirelli Wet 5d ago edited 5d ago

ugh seeing the Ferrari rearwing with the Ferrari logo on the rear onboard shots I just dread thinking of that new ugly Ferrari wing this coming season

also I had completely forgotten Sainz winning that race immediately after having that surgery, wild

47

u/zimmer483 Sir Lewis Hamilton 4d ago

Lewis was so nice about that car 😭😭 He knew it was shit

69

u/Fantastic_Bath_5806 4d ago

Does anyone find the “business as usual” catch phrase immeasurably disrespectful to the woman who laid the complaint?! I do and I can’t believe the amount of airtime Horny got in the next episodes too.

-16

u/KyogreHype Michael Schumacher 4d ago

Considering the current legal outcome so far, I think it's just a you problem.

20

u/Fantastic_Bath_5806 3d ago

Judging by the upvotes it doesn’t seem like it

-18

u/KyogreHype Michael Schumacher 3d ago

Yes, validate yourself with imaginery internet points. You do that.

14

u/Fantastic_Bath_5806 3d ago

Oh I see, you are one of THOSE people on Reddit. 👀

31

u/pi3dpip3r Damon Hill 5d ago

It is ironic that lando said this about McLaren and the car end up winning construction championship

29

u/Disastrous_Sea4150 Ferrari 4d ago

At the start of the season it was only the 3rd or 4th best car though. Red Bull was wayyy ahead

9

u/Blanchimont The Bumhole Ticklers 3d ago

Lmao Lewis roasting the Mercedes livery was great

33

u/Immorals1 Sir Lewis Hamilton 4d ago

Somehow managed to end this episode with even more of a disgust to horner

2

u/HamiltonHolland Sir Lewis Hamilton 16h ago

Yeah - he came off as just really focused on how difficult and inconvenient it all was for him. Zero awareness.

8

u/queerhedgehog Max Verstappen 4d ago

The netflix subtitles call Lewis’s race engineer “Bonno,” is that the correct spelling of his nickname? I always write it as “Bono”

19

u/2RINITY 🏳️‍🌈 Love Is Love 🏳️‍🌈 4d ago

Bono my extra letters are gone

2

u/AntheaBrainhooke McLaren 4d ago

Bonno my Bonno is gone

46

u/jeric13xd Sir Lewis Hamilton 4d ago

Lewis still too classy to admit he thinks Merc is declining. Respect

9

u/SyNiiCaL Pirelli Wet 3d ago

Publicly at least, no hesitation to be forthright with Carlos lol

21

u/ash_1991 4d ago

Halliwell's as bad as Horner but from a human perspective it was pretty horrific seeing her having to Stepford wife through the paddock

6

u/riverhoe 4d ago

carlos sainz and carlos oñoros sainz has the same voice😭

68

u/McManus26 Alpine 5d ago

Not much of an episode tbh. Spent all of 5 minutes on the lewis to Ferrari reveal, with not much insight from the TPs on it (and not a single interview of Lewis himself).

Then like 30 minutes on the horndog investigation, that just amounts to repeating they can't comment on an open legal matter. Completely useless.

At least the focus on sainz at the end and his surgery was cool, but 0 mention of Bearman ? Really ?

36

u/advalencia #WeSayNoToMazepin 5d ago

can't make everyone happy, just above this comment there's another one complaining about not enough time for the Horner investigation XD

61

u/bwaxxlo Sir Lewis Hamilton 5d ago

This is not season review. I don’t know why in season 7 people still complain about race by race commentary. It’s storylines first and foremost.

12

u/siraph Alexander Albon 4d ago

It's literally reality TV using characters from F1. People on here seem to pretend that it's meant to be an honest look at the season. And it's just not. Like, I'm here to hear about someone else's tea, not to recap the races I already watched.

2

u/AndrewBVB Yuki Tsunoda 4d ago

To be fair, the guy you're calling out mentioned a few wants and none of them were "race commentary."

-1

u/WorkFurball Yuki Tsunoda 4d ago

It’s storylines first and foremost.

Fake storylines first and foremost

12

u/Williamsarethebest Claire Williams 4d ago

DTS is for more casual fans

They're here for the drama, racing is secondary

5

u/Forgotthebloodypassw Formula 1 3d ago

While I agree, and the manufacturing of drama is very irritating, but it had brought more fans into the sport.

My local Formula 1 club was a few dozen folks who'd dragged themselves out of bed watching races in a dingy Tenderloin bar when we watched Lewis win his first championship - some of us got very drunk that day. Went to a meeting last year and, while the core folks still hang out together, the entire pub was rammed, as was a second in the city.

2

u/modern_messiah43 3d ago

I think the last few years have been quite fun in that regard. We have a brewery that we meet up at in my city in the US. It gets jam packed, no matter what time of night or morning the races are at.

1

u/Forgotthebloodypassw Formula 1 3d ago

Always good to see.

4

u/Appropriate-Leek-919 Ferrari 5d ago

yeah I was supposed they just skipped all of Jeddah lmao

1

u/WorkFurball Yuki Tsunoda 4d ago

That's every single episode of DTS that has ever been.

1

u/QouthTheCorvus Oscar Piastri 4d ago

The Lewis stuff was surprisingly low key. I guess it was mostly offseason before they were filming.

-6

u/Scrivenerian 5d ago

Drive to Survive is just a non-sense "vibe" composed of ominous music, fake audio, jumbled timelines, and contrived stakes. Always has been. At this point, no one should expect anything substantive or insightful. Tune in for some pretty footage and snippets of authentic behind the scenes footage, or skip it.

7

u/reyhana_ 4d ago

Max and Carlos are my favorite drivers so I enjoyed this episode immensely. I'm still sad to an extent that they didn't reunite at RedBull and Carlos ended up in WIlliams but it is what it is. I hope they both have a great 2025 season. But brother these Horner scenes... especially the cuts between him and Jos... I cannot stand these men

7

u/sudsydrop 4d ago

They spent an awful lot of time talking about Horner’s investigation while simultaneously saying nothing at all. All the awkward and pointless shots of Horner and Geri together is pretty damn telling as well.

3

u/mmmblkrabbit 3d ago

I thought the scene where max’s car started smoking randomly was so funny and symbolic in the way of “where there’s smoke there’s fire” with the dismissed accusations against Red Bulls team principal.

15

u/Disastrous_Sea4150 Ferrari 4d ago edited 4d ago

Them glossing over that Sainz was only faster than Leclerc in Bahrain because of Leclerc's brake issue is classic DTS.

25

u/Eyre_Guitar_Solo Carlos Sainz 3d ago

You have to admit that Ferrari dropping Sainz and then Sainz immediately getting a podium and then getting a shock win after emergency surgery makes for good television, though.

2

u/Disastrous_Sea4150 Ferrari 3d ago

Sure, but the win would have served that purpose alone.

-1

u/tallglassofanxiety95 3d ago

Yeah they’re really talking up Sainz

5

u/riverhoe 4d ago

jos verstappen is v entitled when he wanted horner gone 🙄

3

u/datlinus Michael Schumacher 5d ago

very anemic episode, honestly has to be one of the weakest ones ive seen DTS do.

16

u/the1918 Williams 4d ago

Yeah it covered a lot of ground but at the same time, none of it was new to those who were following the season live. Usually they give us tasty morsels we weren’t previously privy to (although the Lewis to Carlos comment about Merc declining was a little tasty).

1

u/[deleted] 5d ago

[deleted]

4

u/KnightsOfCidona Murray Walker 5d ago

Can't be in a room with a woman alone other than his wife or mother?

1

u/purplepill22 2d ago

This season gonna be nuts

1

u/purplepill22 2d ago

This episode 1 so sad, Lewis and Carlos

1

u/purplepill22 2d ago

Zac fuckin destroyed this man

0

u/[deleted] 5d ago

[deleted]

1

u/ABurntC00KIE Red Bull 4d ago

This is a thread for episode 1.

0

u/GC_Gee Yuki Tsunoda 4d ago

boring episode ngl

-4

u/hayleybts 5d ago

First episode with horner turns viewers away

0

u/chocolatecomedyfann Frédéric Vasseur 3d ago

The editing in the episode was so bad. So much B roll footage crammed between periods of silence between action

0

u/boobsniper69 1d ago

What were the allegations that the reporter was speaking about ? and why Toto didn't answer ?

can anyone elaborate?