Max Verstappen
F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali’s words on cutting down on overly dramatised sequences on Drive To Survive generated an interesting debate at the FIA press conference in Jeddah.
Max Verstappen, who was previously vocal on the matter, was asked along with Carlos Sainz, Mick Schumacher, Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon to share his thoughts on Domenicali’s decision to turn the infamous Netflix show into a more accurate product. The 2021 world champion reiterated that he is not interested in taking part of it at the moment, after he refused to be involved last year.
In his opinion, it is better to create a post-season review directly from F1 instead of taking some time to shoot for a reality series but he is ‘open’ to bringing the discussion further with CEO Domenicali to improve the product for the coming seasons. Verstappen also stated that Drive To Survive edged closer to “Keeping Up With F1”, referring to American TV show ‘Keeping Up With The Kardashians”.
“It’s better to make a season review from F1 themselves. That’s way nicer to look at. But that’s my opinion, nobody needs to share my opinion” he said.
As a follow-up question, Verstappen was asked to delve deeper into the matter and share what he did not appreciate from the show. It emerged that he did not like the way Lando Norris.
“You immediately get a wrong picture of a person, and that’s what exactly happened to me at the beginning. I think when you ruin it from the start, you don’t fix it. That’s it.”
“What I didn’t like, which isn’t about me, is about Daniel and Lando, two great guys, and they made Lando look a bit of a d*ck. I know Lando, and you look at the episode and think ‘who is this guy?’
As usual, with his bluntness and nonchalant mannerisms, Max Verstappen separated himself from the rest of the pack, as the other drivers made more positive comments on the show, although they admitted there were some upsetting inaccuracies.