Former world champion Mika Hakkinen SLAMS Drive to Survive for completely changing F1 fanbase

Drive to Survive

Former world champion SLAMS Drive to Survive for completely changing F1 fanbase

The hugely popular Netflix series has catapulted the sport since its release in 2019

Joe Ellis

Thursday 10 August 2023 22:57

Make us your Google favorite

Two-time Formula 1 world champion Mika Hakkinen believes that Netflix's documentary series Drive to Survive has 'lost the previous generation' of fans.

The mightily popular Netflix show has provided the platform for F1 as a sport to boom to popularity for a whole new audience.

Without the Netflix production, those fans may not have stumbled across F1 and provided a huge injection shot into the arm of many in the paddock.

Article continues under video

Hakkinen, though, thinks that same group of fans and the engagement they have shown is driving away the more traditional motorsport fan.

Hakkinen: A sport reborn

Netflix's fifth season of Drive to Survive was released in February earlier this year

"The sport has literally been reborn," Hakkinen told Iltalehti. "The new owners have brought a new generation to the sport. I feel like we lost the previous generation.

"People are interested in people. If they aren't brought to the attention of new fans, they won't get excited. We have now learned from this.

"Quite a show has been made of it, not everything is as it is presented.

"I want to meet people face to face and talk to them. I want to see what they are like in reality, not when they perform."