Drive To Survive has had a transformational impact on interest in F1 in recent years, and the release date for Season 8 in 2026 has now been confirmed.

The Netflix blockbuster – which originally launched way back on March 8, 2019 – has attracted millions of new fans to the sport as it goes behind the scenes to review every season.

We get to find out what the drivers are like once the curtain is pulled back, and we get the beef behind the biggest storylines. It is must-see TV.

Of course not everybody loves it – four-time world champion Max Verstappen for example has expressed his displeasure at the way the show is filmed.

Whatever you think about it, it’s impossible to deny that DtS has been a major win for F1 – perhaps the biggest single factor in the growth since that takeover by Liberty Media in January 2017. With the days counting down to Season 8 in 2026, here is all you need to know.

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When is the release date for Season 8?

The release date for the latest series of Drive to Survive is on February 27. That’s a Friday night for those of you keen to watch as many as you like without the threat of having to get up for work the next day.

The seventh season of DtS was released all at once and binge watching fans will hope for a repeat.

DtS normally drops on a Friday, and it normally drops very close to the start of the new season which in this case is the Australian Grand Prix on March 8.

How to watch Drive to Survive Season 8

This is pretty simple – if you are an existing Netflix subscriber you can watch all the seasons so far (and Season 8) without doing anything. And at no extra cost. More on pricing to come.

The big storylines in Season 8

There are always some surprises and some unexpected stars when the show makes its big annual reveal, but here are the biggest storylines we are excited about from the 2025 season:

Red Bull sack Christian Horner

Undoubtedly the biggest single moment of the 2025 season came on July 9, 2025 when Red Bull announced they had sacked Team Principal Christian Horner after a glorious 20-year run in charge of the Milton Keynes team. It ended a tumultuous 12 months at Red Bull, and DtS should reveal some more of what happened in the lead-up to that seismic moment.

Lewis Hamilton and a miserable Year 1 at Ferrari

It absolutely was not supposed to play out like this. The marriage of Hamilton and Ferrari brought together the two most glamorous brands in F1. But Year 1 of the project was an abject failure. Hamilton could not get to grips with the SF-25 car and struggled mightily during his opening act at Maranello. He would eventually finish the season in sixth place in the Drivers’ standings with 156 points – a massive 267 behind new world champion Norris.

McLaren vs McLaren and papaya rules

The Drivers’ Championship appeared to be McLaren’s by the summer break – it was just a question of who, Lando Norris or Ocar Piastri. But then came that terrific Max Verstappen revival which took it right down to the final lap of the final race. Along the way McLaren kind of lost their way with those papaya rules and some very uncomfortable moments.

Max Verstappen anti-hero arc

Yes, from being the driver that so many people didn’t like (outside of the Netherlands that is), Verstappen suddenly had fans rooting for him in 2025. It wasn’t just that his renaissance in the second half of the season gave us a title race after all. It was also becoming a father for the first time with the birth of baby Lily, and the way he built relationships with the rookies on the grid. Turns out he’s a nice guy off the track who cares about his family and who doesn’t take himself too seriously. Who knew.

Hulkenpodium

We did not expect this to be one of our 5 storylines, but it’s one which might have us reaching for the tissues come late February. The German star had gone 239 F1 starts without ever making a podium before his glorious third-place finish in the 2025 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. It was a magical moment for one of the most likeable characters on the grid, and everybody loved it. Now we get to watch it all again.

Drive To Survive FAQ

How did Drive To Survive start?

It was the brainchild of Sean Bratches, former MD of Commercial Operations at F1. When current owners Liberty Media bought the sport a few years ago, Bratches wanted to bring it to a wider audience. As a former ESPN staffer, he understood the value of rich sports documentaries (remember 30 For 30?) and the rest is now very successful history.

How can I watch previous seasons of Drive To Survive?

Seasons 1-7 are all available on Netflix, and if you haven’t seen them yet you can get started before Season 8 hits your screen.

How much does it cost to watch Drive To Survive?

It varies depending on which subscription level you choose, and which country you are in. In the UK Basic with adverts is £5.99 per month while Premium is £18.99. In the United States it starts at $7.99 and goes up to $24.99.

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Audi F1 star Nico Hulkenberg could be set to pick up a multi-million Euro bonus in his first season with the German outfit if he manages to replicate his 2025 form.

Last season saw Hulkenberg finally make it onto an F1 podium after 250 grands prix starts, beating seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton to P3 on home turf at the British Grand Prix.

The German racer picked up 15 points from his Silverstone triumph alone, finishing the season tied with rookie Isack Hadjar, after both drivers accumulated 51 points.

Ahead of his first season driving for fellow German icon Audi, reports in foreign media have claimed the 38-year-old has struck a deal that could see him pick up an additional €50,000 for every point he earns with the rebranded squad in 2026.

With new regulations entering the sport, not even the drivers know how the competitive order of the grid will unfold in 2026.

However, if Hulkenberg replicates his 51-point tally from last season and reports of the bonus agreement prove true, he could be looking to take home an eye-watering €2,550,000 on top of his first Audi F1 salary.

DRIVE to SURVIVE: the ex-McLaren junior comes into his own this season as he and Hulkenberg are both handed the opportunity to show off their potential with a new team under new regulations.

If either driver fails to impress however, they could be out of a full-time seat entirely given that both their contracts only run until the end of the 2026 campaign.

To add to the pressure, a whopping 16 out of the 22 drivers lining up on this year’s grid do not have a confirmed spot 2027, meaning this whole championship could act as an audition for any rival drivers hoping to catch Audi’s eye.

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Max Verstappen‘s F1 race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase has revealed what saved him from being ‘eaten alive’ by the champion at Red Bull.

The British-Italian engineer has spent two decades in Formula 1, beginning his career at Jordan which then transformed into Midland, Spyker and Force India, eventually becoming Giancarlo Fisichella’s performance engineer at the latter team in 2008.

Lambiase moved to Red Bull in 2015, where he assumed the role of Daniil Kvyat‘s race engineer before working alongside Verstappen when he joined the team in 2016.

The engineer was included in Sky Sports F1 presenter’s Simon Lazenby’s upcoming book Pressure, in which Lambiase provided a chapter on his experience in the sport.

Lambiase reflects on Verstappen

An extract from the book saw him reflect on his first impressions of Verstappen, and how ultimately his experience stood him good stead to work with the Dutchman.

“What stood out immediately was the capacity this kid had. He took on absolutely everything. And I’m not just blowing smoke up his arse,” Lambiase wrote.

“It was like playing a PlayStation for him. Some of the instructions we were giving him for if a particular system goes down were pretty complex, especially whilst you are still trying to drive the car at 99 or 100 per cent on track, and he didn’t miss a beat. After those three days on the simulator, you kind of knew what you had under you.

“The fact that I was quite an experienced engineer at the time is what stood me in good stead to build a relationship with him, because I think if I had been in my first or second year of race engineering, he would have eaten me alive.”

During the winter break, Lambiase was linked to rival F1 teams such as Williams and Aston Martin, but it was confirmed he would remain at Red Bull as their head of racing and as Verstappen’s race engineer for 2026.

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