Netflix's most game-changing series is back, with a bang

TV, whether it's traditional broadcast stuff, or the new world of streaming, can be an influential medium, but it's still often somewhat insular. A hugely successful TV show might influence other producers, networks and platforms, but it's quite rare for one to have tangible real-world results.

Still, that's a boast that many people think Formula 1: Drive to Survive can make – a Netflix documentary series that might well have transformed the sport it portrays entirely. Expert observers have decreed that it is a huge reason behind Formula 1's boom in popularity this past decade, and it's about to arrive for its seventh season.

Formula 1: Drive to Survive - Season 7 | Official Trailer | Netflix - YouTube

Watch On

Depending on when you read this, you might already be able to head to Netflix and watch the new season, in fact – it arrives on 7 March, but just got not only a full trailer but also a sneak peek for you to soak in. They're great ways to get a sense of what is coming up, especially if you don't already have a Netflix subscription.

The trailer gives us a nice overview of the behind-the-scenes action in what was an up-and-down season of racing. Max Verstappen may have ended up winning the championship at a canter again, but the amount of competition in the mid-season phase clearly caused enough tension for some spicy moments to have been caught on camera.

Image 1 of 6

Watch the sneak peek, though, and you'll get a look at a particularly impactful moment, in the immediate aftermath of the modern legend Lewis Hamilton informing his long-time team Mercedes that he would be leaving to join Ferrari at the end of the season. It's a decision that made shockwaves when it was publicly revealed much later, and one of the sub-plots that fans were definitely hoping would be explored.

Indeed, the fact that I can use the word 'subplots' is a great example of why Drive to Survive works. The F1 paddock is so condensed and tight that a series covering it all at once can feel like it almost has plotlines, while other sports stick to one-team series instead. It's a feather in Netflix's cap, that's for sure, in the parallel race to be the best streaming service out there.