With Drive to Survive S1, each episode was weekly, but S2 was released all at once, allowing viewers to watch it one go, which was how we got such a rapid review straight to you last year.
The same will happen this year, and we’ve seen a full preview. Read the full Drive to Survive Season 3 review here.
Drive to Survive trailer Season 3 — what does it show?
The teaser trailer certainly lived up to its name, showing a brief montage of clips from the year, ending with the words of McLaren Racing’s CEO Zak Brown: “We have no idea what’s going to happen” – with reverb turned up for dramatic effect.
It opens with the cars lining up on the grid for the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix, but the action is unlikely to begin there: a clip of Sebastian Vettel appears to have been shot in Melbourne at the Australian Grand Prix that never happened, raising the prospect of a behind-the-scenes look as hopes for the race disintegrated, hours before the cars were due on track.
There are more clues in the full trailer, which shows clips of a Ferrari debrief during the team’s lacklustre year, and the drivers being told: “We can’t be too funny considering the performance”. Footage of Romain Grosjean’s fiery crash is shown, as well as a snippet from a joint interview with him and his wife, Marion Jolles.
Sweary Haas boss Gunter Steiner is back and in full flow — unsurprisingly, given the team’s awful performances. There are plenty of dramatic action and crash shots, plus a scene of despair on the Mercedes pitwall, which appears to be the moment that Lewis Hamilton is penalised for practising starts in the pitlane.
How did they film Drive to Survive Season 3?
Film crews have been seen with various teams throughout the season. Strict social distancing protocols had to be observed at all times in the paddock, with camera’s zoom features likely to be working overtime.
F1 digital presenter Will Buxton’s own DtS YouTube preview emphasises how some filming staff had to become part of their requisite team, so as not to break out of their bubble.
One example he gives is cameraman James Ralph at McLaren, who could be seen wearing the Woking squad’s team uniform in Austria, and remained with them for a significant amount of the 2020 F1 season.
Who made Drive to Survive Season 3?
Executive producers Paul Martin and James Gay-Reese, the men behind DtS Seasons 1 and 2, as well as award-winning films Senna, Amy and Diego Maradona, were once again on board to make DtS Season 3.
The aesthetic and dramatic should be similar to S1 and 2, and then some. Expect more ratcheted-up Red Bull tension, DRS-assisted drama and the heartbreak of yet another Sebastian Vettel pit-strategy gone AWOL.
What’s in Drive to Survive Series 3?
DtS 3 may have some of the strongest story lines of any series so far, as detailed in our full review.
The full drama of the Coronavirus cancellation of the Australian Grand Prix is covered, as F1 insisted the show must go on whilst leading lights like Lewis Hamilton called for it to be cancelled.
The Mercedes and Ferrari episodes are headlines acts, and justifiably so.
An evaluation (by all team members) of Valtteri Bottas’s mental strength and how he deals with being destroyed by Hamilton week in, week out is worthwhile watching, if not a little painful. The Finn vows to take a new approach, but does it work?
Similarly we see a revised version of Sebastian Vettel. Upon learning he’ll be released by Ferrari come the end of 2020, ‘Vettel unchained’ now constantly makes mischief at press events and revels in the car-crash PR meetings which proceed each new Scuderia cock-up.
