Drive to Survive Season Four: Mercedes admit to ‘scars’ after Lewis Hamilton-Max Verstappen finale | F1 News

Formula 1: Drive to Survive will launch with another 10 episodes on March 11, a week before the 2022 season gets underway in Bahrain; Toto Wolff is shown saying: “The decision was simply wrong. And it’s clear that this is going to leave some scars on Lewis, myself and the team.”

Last Updated: 10/03/22 10:19pm

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In a clip from Season Four of Drive to Survive on Netflix, Lewis Hamilton says he feels he has always had a “target on my back” as footage revisits his title finale against Max Verstappen.

Mercedes and Red Bull’s fierce 2021 F1 rivalry is given the full Drive to Survive treatment in the latest season of the hit Netflix show, with drama throughout before the controversial Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen title finale which has left the seven-time world champion with “scars”.

Formula 1: Drive to Survive is a documentary collaboration between Netflix and Formula 1 to bring the audience unprecedented behind the scenes access and insight into the teams, the drama, the races and the drivers.

All ten episodes of Season Four, which gives the series its first real title battle, are available from Friday, March 11 – a week before the 2022 season starts – on Netflix, which can be accessed by Sky customers via Sky Q and Sky Glass.

While the series delves into stories and rivalries up and down the grid, the tension between Mercedes and Red Bull escalates throughout – particularly between team bosses Toto Wolff and Christian Horner – after multiple collisions between Hamilton and Verstappen through the season, which of course ends with an intense conclusion in Abu Dhabi.

Red Bull’s feelings before the finale are made clear by Horner, whose disdain towards Mercedes is evident, with quotes such as “nothing has gone our way” and “I’m a believer that fate always balances out in the end” – while Wolff jokes that “Red Bull is a bit like the baby throwing toys out of the pram”.

Amid the chaotic and confusing late scenes in Abu Dhabi as it initially seemed race director Michael Masi was not going to let cars un-lap themselves under the Safety Car and give Verstappen a chance of hunting down Hamilton, Horner then says: “They may as well give this fchampionship to Hamilton.”

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But the drama then ramps up again as Masi then changes his mind to give Verstappen and Hamilton one final racing lap, leading to expletive-laden outbursts on the Mercedes pit-wall and from Hamilton.

“I’ve always had a target on my back, since I started racing. It does feel like people can be out to get you,” is one of the never-heard-before quotes Hamilton gives to Netflix, aptly used in the controversial closing moments.

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With the new season fast approaching, relive some of the most intense tussles on track between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen last year.

After Verstappen passes Hamilton on the final lap to seal the race and championship win, there’s bedlam and tears from the Red Bull pit-wall and anguish from Mercedes’, which Wolff, who was furious with Masi for his handling of the closing stages, surmises.

“I didn’t even see Max crossing the line,” he says. “The decision [from Masi] was simply wrong. And it’s clear that this is going to leave some scars on Lewis, myself and the team.”

With the 2022 season on the horizon, Wolff adds: “Lewis had done everything that was necessary to win the championship. It was taken away from him.

“And there’s nothing better that they could have done to motivate us.”

All ten episodes of Formula 1: Drive to Survive are available on Netflix from Friday, March 11. Sky customers can access Netflix via Sky Q and Sky Glass.