Lando Norris has bemoaned the Netflix fly-on-the-wall Formula 1 series, Drive to Survive, saying the show’s depiction of his rivalry with Max Verstappen as “fabricated nonsense.”
The World Championship leader has called into question the way the show has depicted his 2024 title battle with the Dutchman, who went on to clinch his fourth successive Drivers’ crown.
In the second episode, Verstappen is portrayed as being significantly unhappy with losing the Miami Grand Prix to Norris, the Brit’s first-ever F1 win.
However, some of the footage used is taken from a moment at the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, when Verstappen lost out on a home win to the McLaren driver.
Speaking ahead of his successful Australian Grand Prix, Norris said the show should take a more truthful tact.
“They need to show the truth about people more,” he said.
“I’m not a fan of fake stuff. I want facts. I don’t want made-up scripts and fabricated nonsense, which there is.
“The portrayal of Max, and how we were against each other so much, they don’t need to create that drama, just show the facts.
“It is almost lying in some ways, and I just don’t think that’s correct. They just jumble up the whole thing and they don’t care when they put it in.
“Maybe it needs to be more of a documentary of the season, more than a show like they’re trying to do. It has drifted too far away.”
Verstappen ‘ignores’ and Russell says he ‘doesn’t care’ how he’s portrayed by Netflix
Verstappen, an outspoken critic of the show, had previously mocked this particular moment in the series, and speaking to media including Motorsport Week in Melbourne, he stated that he tries his best to give it any of his attention.
“I’m not surprised, so… I didn’t watch it,” he said. “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.
“No, not blocked [Netflix], because they see that. If you ignore it, then no one knows.”
Fellow Brit George Russell, who completed the podium with Norris and Verstappen at Albert Park, appeared to echo Verstappen’s chosen ignorance of the show.
“I’ve got to be honest, I’ve not seen the episode in full … and I was fed back it was two extremes from the first half to the last half,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“But ultimately, I don’t really care how I’m portrayed there, I care about how I perform in the car and how I work with my team, to be honest.
“There’s always an agenda for the best storyline possible and that’s just the way of the world with these entertainment programmes, as I said I haven’t even seen it and it’s not something that concerns me.”
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