Drive to Survive has been integral for Formula 1’s current boom but not all the drivers are so keen on it.
The popular Netflix documentary has entered its seventh season, and in it they covered a battle between McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in 2024.
The British-New Zealand squad mounted a surprise challenge to Max Verstappen and Red Bull last season and executives were stuck on whether to employ team orders.
After much resistance they finally did, in favour of Norris, and one comment may have caused Piastri some annoyance – had he seen it.
At the first press conference of the season in Australia, the home hero was asked about McLaren CEO Zak Brown saying ‘it’s the start of the age of Lando Norris’.
In response, Piastri said: “I haven’t watched to be honest, I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what happens so I don’t need to watch it again on TV.
“There are a lot of things on Drive to Survive where you never quite know how it’s been cut up and I think for myself I’m very confident in what I can do and we’re going into the season starting from zero, both of us, and we’re both going to be trying to fight for a world championship hopefully.
“I’m pretty confident in what I can do and I’m aware there are things I need to do better from last season, but I’m confident we’ve done a lot of work to try and improve that and go and have a good year.”
Piastri entered F1 in 2023 as the sport’s most exciting rookie since Norris and fellow Brit George Russell joined the sport in 2019.
With back-to-back Formula 2 and Formula 3 championships at the first time of asking, it’s clear the 23-year-old has the potential to do the same in the top tier.
Having finished ninth in the standings in his debut campaign in 2023, Piastri jumped up to fourth last year and recorded his first two wins.
However, he did end up 145 points behind Norris and will have to work very hard to make sure his teammate isn’t favoured this season.
Yet it seems very clear he’s confident that won’t be the case, having signed a new multi-year contract with the Woking-based squad two days before the season opener.
Piastri initially signed until 2026, but the length of his new deal hasn’t been revealed by the team.
That will likely ward off suitors, with Eddie Jordan linking the young Aussie with Red Bull when speaking to talkSPORT.
When asked about Verstappen’s next teammate, the iconic team owner said: “Be careful where he’s [Piastri] going to go because I think there is big star quality in there.
“I’m actually blown away with this young kid, so he’d be one of the drivers I’d be looking at to challenge Max in the future.”
And Verstappen himself is also keen to avoid Drive To Survive noise affecting his 2025 season.
Portrayed as glib after Norris’ maiden Grand Prix win in Miami, he told a Twitch stream:
And asked again about the show in Melbourne, he added: “I’m not surprised. I didn’t watch it.
“It’s just unfortunate you see these things pop up on X, but you just need to quickly ignore it so it doesn’t come up again in your feed.”
Piastri and Alpine star Jack Doohan advised him to block social media accounts, but he added: “No, not blocked, because they see that. If you ignore it, then no one knows.”
