F1 fans vent fury over Drive to Survive manipulation

Formula 1 fans online have found a fresh controversy to debate after new teaser footage from Drive to Survive began circulating ahead of the latest season.

Short clips released on social media appear to show moments from the 2025 campaign, but eagle-eyed viewers were quick to question whether some of the radio audio had been edited. In one five-second snippet from the Canadian Grand Prix, Lando Norris is seen running behind team-mate Oscar Piastri, accompanied by a radio message saying: “Lando, you’re the fastest car on track. Let’s use the pace.”

Fans pointed out that the line appears to splice together two different voices — seemingly Norris’ race engineer Will Joseph and Piastri’s engineer Tom Stallard — prompting accusations that the clip had been stitched together for dramatic effect rather than reflecting the exact real-life exchange.

That message, however, came from two different voices – the first seemingly Norris' race engineer Will Joseph, and the second Piastri's engineer Tom Stallard.

Fans have been reposting the clip with various comments of their own, ranging from 'this is why I hate DTS' to calling the show an 'abomination'.

Is Drive to Survive edit a betrayal of fans?

Does the fact that a couple of clips were edited together for a narrative effect matter a great deal? It's hard to say for certain without the context surrounding the clip, but almost certainly not. After all, Norris being told 'you have a fast car, make the most of that' is not a bombshell in almost any situation.

Is it an example of dishonest editing from the DTS producers? In the most technical sense, yes. In a practical sense...no, not really.

It's important to remember that Drive to Survive is barely a documentary in the traditional sense. This is a series which F1 absolutely sign off on, which everyone featured has agreed to be a part of. This is not some Bowling for Columbine style exposé. This is an F1 sanctioned advert with the veneer of documentary stylings laid over it.

Drive to Survive's job is to tell eight bite-sized stories over the course of an F1 season. That means editing. That means taking a little bit from Audio A and a little bit from Audio B and splicing them together to make things run a little bit more smoothly for the viewer.

That means telling stories slightly out of order, to give them a better flow to the people who are finding out about them for the first time. It means leaving out things that might've been important for the context of the actual F1 season, because they aren't important for the micro-story that's being explored. You want to see all the twists and turns of the title race? That's what 'watching the actual races' is for.

If anything, DTS interweaving a couple of clips together for the sake of expedience is probably the most documentary-like thing about the whole process. Pointing out this edit isn't a gotcha, it's just a sign that they're doing their jobs. And maybe that you can differentiate between very similar English accents at an above-average level. Give yourself a pat on the back.

Related