One more sleep: F1 ‘Drive to Survive’ live on Netflix tomorrow night

UPDATE, 23 February 2023: Streaming giant Netflix has announced season five of Drive to Survive – the hit series which follows the Formula One championship and its drivers – will be available to watch in Australia tomorrow night (Friday 24 February 2023).

Since its first season in 2019, the popularity of Drive to Survive has been attributed to bringing a wave of new fans to the premier motorsport category, and giving a different perspective on the on-track stars.

Season five of Drive to Survive will run across 10 episodes – all uploaded to Netflix simultaneously – which focus on different drivers and aspects of the 2022 Formula One World Championship.

Drive to Survive goes live on Netflix on Friday at 7:00pm in NSW, Victoria, Tasmania, and the ACT, 6:30pm in South Australia, 6:00pm in Queensland, 5:30pm in the Northern Territory and 3:00pm in Western Australia.

Our original story continues unchanged below.

14 January 2023: 'Drive to Survive' – the behind-the-scenes documentary series that lifted the lid on the inside world of Formula One car racing – is returning to Netflix next month.

The screening date for 'Drive to Survive' Series 5 has been set for 24 February 2023.

Formula One management has also confirmed there will be a Series 6 of 'Drive to Survive' to be filmed through the 2023 F1 championship for screening in early 2024.

The struggles of Australian F1 ace Daniel Ricciardo through his troubled season at the McLaren team in 2022, his eventual replacement by fellow Aussie Oscar Piastri, and the behind-the-scenes dealings leading up Ricciardo's shock departure from the team, are expected to be one of the key storylines in the newest instalment of 'Drive to Survive'.

Max Verstappen, the Dutch driver who became the fourth-youngest Formula One world champion in 2021 after a brutal rivalry with defending champion Lewis Hamilton, will also be a key character through the successful defence of his world title.

Verstappen initially intended to deny access to the Netflix cameras for the 2022 season, however, he is understood to have relented and let the camera crews inside his inner circle after the intervention of the boss of Formula One – former Ferrari team manager Stefano Domenicali.

His back-to-back championship run with the Red Bull Racing team, a new rivalry with Ferrari lead driver Charles Leclerc at the head of the field, and conflicts with his Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez are also likely to provide key storylines for Season 5.

Formula One organisers claim the documentary series broke into the weekly Top 10 rankings for Netflix shows in 56 countries in 2022.

The 10-part series recaps the 23-race Formula One season in a more accessible manner, by adopting themes for each episode to make it easier for non-enthusiasts to follow the behind-the-scenes shenanigans.

'Drive to Survive' is credited with sparking massive growth in Formula One's fan following globally – and turning grand prix drivers into major-league sports stars.

Seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton, the British driver who leads the Mercedes-AMG team, now has an estimated total of 40 million followers on social media, according to the Fans Circle website.

The first series of 'Drive to Survive' was an instant hit in March 2019, following filming through the 2018 Formula One championship.

The release date was chosen to create a tease for the upcoming grand prix season, a pattern repeated for each following series.

The first Formula One race this year is scheduled for Bahrain on 5 March 2023, with the Australian Grand Prix set for 2 April 2023 as the third leg of the championship.

The 2023 calendar includes three races in the US for the first time – Austin, Texas; Miami, Florida; and Las Vegas, Nevada – after the huge fan interest triggered by 'Drive to Survive' created unprecedented interest in North America.

Saudi Arabia also joined the series last year, as the number of races has grown to 24 for season 2023.

Formula One teams and insiders now often talk about the 'Netflix Effect' as the documentary series has provided an inside view of a sport which is famously elitist with strict limits on the number of people who can get – or buy – access to the paddock, pit lane, and race team garages and hospitality areas.

The Netflix series has also turned the drivers and team members into real people, not just the invisible helmet wearing pilots strapped inside the super-fast grand prix cars that can hit up to 320km/h.

Some F1 drivers have complained 'Drive to Survive' is more like a soap opera and has created artificial tensions between drivers.

However, one of the show's executive producers said that is part of the appeal.

“It's a soap opera. Television works when it's relatable. People invest in the characters,” James Gay-Rees told Insider.com last year.