Drive to Survive F1 News: Carlos Sainz HITS OUT at Netflix for misleading viewers

Drive to Survive

Sainz HITS OUT at Drive to Survive for misleading viewers

The Ferrari man focused on an episode from season 4

Chris Deeley Editor

Experienced sports writer covering F1 and other motorsports since 2023

Tuesday 18 June 2024 09:57 Updated: 12:04

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Carlos Sainz has accused Netflix's Drive to Survive series of manipulating footage with selective editing in order to manufacture false drama.

The docuseries has now run for six seasons on the streaming platform, proving immensely popular and getting thousands of new fans hooked on the sport in the process.

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A lot of the series focuses on the relationships and dynamics between the drivers, but the Spaniard told the Nude Project podcast that some rivalries are played up to be more than they are.

He picked out the example of himself and former McLaren team-mate Lando Norris, which he admitted he later laughed about with the British driver.

Sainz and Norris were team-mates for two seasons

Sainz has been a popular figure among F1 fans

Sainz: Netflix is in charge of dramatising things

“In F1 we get along well with each other among the drivers," he insisted on the podcast.

“Now maybe we are in a trend in all sports where there is more respect and sportsmanship than before in the time of [Valentino] Rossi, [Jorge] Lorenzo, [Marc] Marquez, or in football with [Zinedine] Zidane and [Marco] Materazzi. There is more harmony.

“But thanks to Netflix, battles or characters have been created that don’t really exist in some cases. Netflix has been in charge of dramatising this and giving it a Hollywood touch. It’s true that the duels exist, but they’ve been exaggerated. It’s Hollywood.

“Lando Norris and I are colleagues. Rivals and colleagues. They did an episode in Season 4 where we looked like archenemies. We were team-mates and we seemed to get on terribly.

“In Australia at the start of the new F1 season we met and I said to him: ‘Have you watched Netflix?’ He said yes and we were laughing about it for a while. Even a fan who has been following F1 for a long time and knows the details laughs at that episode. They take one line there, one line there, to try and create that rivalry.”

Red Bull McLaren Carlos Sainz Drive to Survive