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Is Drive To Survive FAKED? | Up To Speed
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- Published on Apr 14, 2026
- It’s the first race week of the year! And to get you excited for all the drama - the latest season of Drive To Survive is out.
Lucky we've got our very own Will Buxton, one of the presenters of the Netflix show which revolutionised F1, bringing hundreds of millions of new fans to the sport.
SUBSCRIBE / @uptospeedshow
So, what’s the truth behind Drive To Survive season 8? Do the drivers like it? Is it made up? And what's our most glamorous memory from our time in F1? We’ll be answering all your questions today.
Send in your questions!
Socials & RUclips: @uptospeedshow
#drivetosurvive #f1 #formula1
Step inside sport’s greatest soap opera, Formula One. Hosted by Drive to Survive star Will Buxton, racing driver-turned-broadcaster Naomi Schiff, 13-time Grand Prix winner David Coulthard, and presenter & content creator Jolie Sharpe.
Expect razor-sharp reaction, behind-the-scenes insight, blockbuster interviews and answers to the questions you’ve always wanted to ask! With their deep knowledge, expert analysis and infectious love for racing, Will, Naomi, DC & Jolie dive into the stories that matter - on and off the track.
It’s fast-paced, unfiltered and full of the gossip that keeps the paddock buzzing.
They’ll react to the weekend's race drama every Monday. On Thursday they’ll deep dive into the biggest stories of the week.
Watch and listen on Global Player, RUclips and wherever you get your podcasts up-to-speed-sh...
For advertising opportunities on this podcast email: dax@global.com
DTS Season 8 wasn’t great. It focussed far too much on the team principals. However, Will Buxton delivered on of the greatest DTS lines ever when he said “An unrestrained, carefree Max Verstappen is absolutely f*cking terrifying” 😄
I agree! The team principles are full of bs and so fake. I prefer seeing more about the cars, venues and drivers. Driving strategy is interesting, but obviously they won't elaborate.
Definitely upset that Haas wasn't really highlighted at all, but I guess their game went away when Gunther left. He was Haas.
The funniest scene in DTS S8 at the Miami GP parade in the Lego F1 cars and Lewis yells to Kimi, "you look like you're taking business calls" and 18 yr old Kimi is on the phone looking a power broker 😂😂
auditioning for wolf of wallstreet 2 lol
That entire Lego race is on RUclips and it's the funniest thing I've ever watched 🤣
Pretty sure he was actually on the phone to his school for his results, I remember seeing a clip of it last year
Kimi is so cool ! I hope he does well. ❤
@GloryDaze73 well, have I got news for you… 😊
I used to watch F1 back in the 70s. Then we had kids and I got oit of it; until Drive to Survive, which we binge watched all 8 seasons. This got my wife and daughter interested in F1, much to my surprise. So we now have a subscription to F1 TV and watch it faithfully. Our Daughter has now moved from Canada to the USA, so every race Sunday we set up a Google screen, get her on a video call and watch the race together. I got so into it I built a Sim racer and race when I can. Im 72 and find that Sim racing is good for my coordination and short term memory. I'm loving the new F1 25 game. I've even managed to move my difficulty level from "obviously mentally challenged" to "not bad for an old guy.", but dont give up your day job.
DC is the goat the way he talks about anything is so down to earth/humble while being super insightful and intriguing
He’s and old goat 👍✌️
Drive to survive has had its time, brought enough people into the sport now there’s no need for a manufactured drama show, as most DTS fans now understand how fake it is.
If they gave us a purely behind the scene doc it would be much much better
@critya12not watched since season 3 really but from what I have seen it’s the same old shite hahah, a behind the scenes doc every year or round like mic’d up in nfl would slap
Any second talking about Flavio makes me sick. ETA: I do love the podcast! :)
Epstein frequent flyer Flavio is disgusting!
yawwwnnnn keep crying.
@critya12 typical new netflix fan. you treat everything as a popularity contest. F1 is not about whos the best to you loit its all about who your favourite is! Bloody tiktok brain. you lot have the attention span of a grape
I agree. He shouldn't be anywhere near F1.
@KathleenMc73 grow up and find some pearls to clutch. you don't know real F1 netflix noob. go away
A friend worked at one of those reality shows where everyone lived together and was recorded 24/7. They could edit 1 min of fighting to look like it happened all day long.
wow, the netflix lawyers worked fast to get the original taken down xD
Theres a few strange cuts in this podcast, is that what that is? 😂
Give me a job! I will make the coffee for the guy that makes the tea. DC is such a grounded guy. Greetings from Centurion South Africa.
Petition to give this guy the darn job..!
After learning some of Will's early reporting on how DTS took his statements and sliced them up and how they asked him questions, I have zero ill will toward him for those statements. I think Will is the shit and please keep doing what you're doing as long as you want!
And now, Will has another podcast with NASCAR Legend Kevin Harvick entitled Speed. Let's talk racing!
I can already tell this is gonna be my new favorite F1 podcast!! Keep it comingggg
I’m new to F1. I watched F1 the movie when it came out last summer & IMMEDIATELY went home & binged watch the entire Drive to Survive series & began following the races mid season. Excited for the ‘26 season!!
👍✌️
Just came accross this podcast, glad to see David in a podcast again. More than glad to see Will talking F1 as well though he left for Indycar.
You got an other subscriber 🙂
Let's have a great season!
DTS has done its job bringing ppl to the sport however this season nauseating, amazing how the narratives formulated so differently to the actual season. I can’t listen to Zak Brown for a while! But I like you Will that’s it.
Great show! Very entertaining to hear these background F1 stories from professionals at the forefront of presenting F1 to the world. I've become a big fan of this podcast.
letter to Will -
you are my favorite part of DTS. I blame you for this f1 obsession I am now stuck with, please don’t go anywhere too soon 🙏✨
DTS and WWE are pretty much identical
Not just dts. The sport of f1.. american owned now.. noway what happened in qatar then again with pitstop safty car "blunder" wasnt written planned just to setup final race show down..
Great show kids! And DC! 😂❤
OG’s know this is a re upload
Good to be back
Hi guys
Mike Weir here from New Zealand. In the past I've watched F1 but when I watched Drive To Survive that's when I became i fan and now because of Drive To Survive my daughter 😮 now loves F1 and just last weekend got a group of girls round who hadn't seen F1 to watch it and loved it. Plus my son has now caught up with it all.
So much so that last September I hired a penthouse in Christchurch city for the weekend and the whole weekend was F1 themed and it was a great tremendous time all together.
Plus I've followed David's 2nd cousin Fabian Coultard with his racing in NZ and Australia
Now I've signed up to your show and enjoy it very much. The whole concept of the behind the seen really works well 👍🏁
Cheers Mike
There is still way too many hard cuts. Let the conversation flow, even when they stumble. It throws me off
The soy sauce situation is jokes😂I so wish to see Flavio's face at that moment
same
Glad I watched this, I've certainly been guilty of groaning when Buxton shows up in DTS because I've been taken in by the memes, but he seems generally pretty cool here. Sorry I got taken in by the memes! Time to subscribe :D
George did a great job narrating actually. Nothing dramatic about drivers we didn't know or thought. Even in the Paddock interviews he is a great storyteller or explaining the complexity of the sport. 2 scenes or lines I didn't quite enjoy that have gone viral...otherwise he great.
4:40 Will is so unfair about his drive to survive performance and appearances because he’s actually great. And for the audience who don’t know f1 need that.
Amazing show!!!
Love this podcast ! I wish it was longer! :D I've been a fan of the sport since 2009, I walked pretty much the entire Monaco track by foot (I was there twice in the off season), and I hope one day (when my health allows it again) I'll go to the race weekends in Monaco, Zandvoort and Silverstone. In the meantime I'm living through race weekends on TV, DTS, formula 1 RUclips videos and these podcasts :D
The 1:1 lunch scene with Zac and Oscar was painful to watch. It was so contrived with the cameras up close. It came over as a lunch with an employee and his boss. If Zac looked bad in S7, he is buried in S8. When the Maclean team did not turn up to parc ferme in Qatar when Oscar finished 2nd I was annoyed with the team but when I saw Zac's reaction at the end of the race and asking Andrea, "should we go and talk to the drivers?". The rot starts at the top
Buxton promoting Buxton. Lol
Damn. He's now doing commentary in all of IndyCar races since 2025.
Yall took down the episode when I was half way through earlier
It had the timing stamps, clearly released an unfinished version, lol.
One word to describe Will Buxton in regards to Formula One: Ubiquitous! His voice is EVERYWHERE!
Why did DTS leave all of the real stories from the 25 season out? Did the teams not give permission? Many saw season 8 as a huge fail.
I think a good addition for next season especially with the changes to the cars this year would be to delve into what goes on behind the garege doors. Maybe getting into the root causes of mechanical failures as well as the human factors of the teams supporting the technical side.
I fully agree! I would love to see that angle! I loved it when during his first season at Williams they followed James Vowles who was talking about data and seeing the interactions between the drivers in the sim while they adjusted things in real time. So diving further into the garage /technical side now with the current regulations would be so interesting. Though I understand they might not want so give away the secret sauce etc. I hope we will get to see more of that in season 9 of DTS.
Loving the show Team!
Regarding Horner and possible return, I think there is an aspect that Will is forgetting, Christian's complete identity has been taken from him. He has been (publicly) a F1 TP for decades and that was who he is. There are countless people I have known in my life, who's whole identity was their job at a much less renowned profession. No matter what team one roots for, I think we should all understand that the ego at the top of every team is immeasurable and when that is taken from you, rationality is unlikely in the next pursuit, regaining your identity is.
He should have started a charity developing racing talent in Africa or doing something for road safety. But he has accomplished as much as anyone in F1 history. It’s been his life for almost all of his adult life. And it’s hardly surprising that he wants it back.
Well put. Thanks
0:00 - 0:03 What a quote
When was this recorded? Just saw DC at Adelaide speaking eith Mikka and it was awesome! Newfound love for DC
4:04 Loads of my family and friends don’t watch live f1 or highlights but love drive to survive and will only watch races live.
I loved season 1-7 but seeing Lando over and over turns my stomach
I honestly can't believe DTS is a hit 😂. So many fake radio messages etc.
Actual F1 interviews and especially the season review were much better
15:20 this is a nice way of saying that kind of yes. I mean if we dont believe zac and christian especially aren't at least going over the top woth their personalities for the cameras then I would absolutely hate to work for either of them
As long as it’s not day 21 I’m dying😂😂😂😂
I would like for the ticket prices to go back to pre DTS
Lets go 2026 season #uptospeed naomi❤❤😊
I can’t believe you, Will, left the F1 TV broadcast team, the pinnacle of motorsport, to move to IndyCar. I’m sure the money spoke loudly, but I can’t help thinking you might regret that decision. Your place is in the F1 paddock!
Excellent words of wisdom from Mr Coulthard ! A nice diversion from someones obsession about dodgy Flavio!
Usually, someone who says “if I’m honest…let me be honest…I can’t lie…” is usually saying something they don’t agree with or is an actual lie.
Naomi, Will & David are brilliant with conveying complex knowledge efficiently.
Get Button/rosberg on as the host!!
I think Button will be busy doing PR spin for Aston Martin this year.
😅
Naomi has a wonderful accent. Love the show. So fun and homey.
Drive to survive itself now drive you away
3:21 It’s a gateway, but the older crowd (men especially) are gatekeeping 100%. They are absolutely HATEFUL if you came to love the sport by way of DTS. I had never even heard of F1 until I watched, but now I watch everything from Practice to GP live no matter where in the world they are or I am. 😂 I’m crazy superstitious. Got my data running on my laptop, onboards on my phone, and streaming on my TV. But I’ll still get screamed at about being a “fake fan” if I try to join a discussion. So it’s definitely better for no one to know because apparently it makes a difference. So some of us had no other avenue but a dramatized show 🤷🏽♀️ (Really good dramatized show too). Keep it up! Loving the podcast!
I love will on dts, yea he might exaggerate some things, but that’s because he loves the sport, and how he started basically at the the bottom to where he is. He’s grateful for what he’s doing and loves it and I like him a lot.
4:54 😂😂
20:48 PRECH WILL. PRECH. I WOULD BE OFFFFFFFF I’d be gone for a few grand 😂😂😂😂
Love the show but my question is with F1 becoming more and more popular why did Netflix only produce 8 episodes of DTS this season with 10 the previous and at the start 20 episodes. I hope they increase the number of episodes for the 2026 season as they'll be a lot of drama and considering the complete rule change and cars. Thanks.
8 crappy episodes was enough, didn't need 2 more on Zak brown
as a fellow scot for david i was adopted into the family im in and came to them when i was 7yrs old so in 1993 and me and my dad every sunday where there was a race we would watch it. was huge fan of schummy but i was a fan of yours because you were a scot on the racing grid and it kinda upsets me that they do this whole british thing not because of politics but i want my country of scotland represented not by a butchers apron but my countries flag and i wish and hope there are more young hungry lads and girls from scotland trying to get to F1 to drive and make scotland proud i dont want to cheer for the english
This show only needs DC and Will.
I can’t stop watching this, this is the best f1 channel now, I’m going to unsubscribe from all others
I'm italian and been into f1 a long time. I have to say i got pro and cons when it comes about DTS. I do not particularly like the fact that is bringing in a big amount of people that has no clue what F1 is, cause that can be dangerous in times where regulations might need a quick chaneg/step back to reality of racing (exactly as of right now in the current season). But i do have to say i like to watch it because the filming quality is majestic, and you get to see a lot of behind the scenes that you dont see through the year. Cheers for the podcast is good stuff
I’m not sold on will Buxton, but did like him in the past with other groups, beats me why
Was Nigel Roebuck the Scrutineer Will?
Get horner on the podcast and ask him !! 😁❤️
We need drift to survive (wrc)
F1 Drivers aren't the best....WRC drivers are, simply cause they are ridiculously good on any surface in any weather. Simply awesome 💯😎
DC there spitting facts on McLaren 😅😂
I said Norris from the start
"if you won your last race, everyone celebrates you as a winner" the sad truth is, they are not. Unfortunatly, this doesn't apply tp all drivers, David. Some can win a wdc and still get trashed by social media.
Drive To Contrive
Some absolute weapons in the comment section of this.
Well I throughly enjoyed that 30 minute of Up To Speed , I have to admit that I am not a fan of Drive To Survive and I only lasted 30 minutes into the F1 The Movie , as you all said a lot of it is set up and it's for the general public F1 race fans. I was lucky enough to have had a small; part back in the 1970s in international motor racing as a driver , so a David said we tend to see it differently . Keep up all the great with this show you are all great presenters . Thank you .
The moment I noticed they used footage from other races and events and pasted it in for their narrative, I stopped watching. This was a couple seasons back. The fake stuff is just not for me.
I watched it for you and they still do the same; Max Verstappen spins around on Silverstone during the restart in the rain and shot goes to Zak Brown giving a thumbs up in a miraculously dry pit lane.
Is this a re-upload of the video that was removed, titled something like "Is DTS faked"? Or was that one geoblocked for me after I added it to Watch Later?
Yeah it was a question about if it was scripted and was made private very quickly.
Lol I was mid watching it and it kicked me off
@RedBull4L Me too. Weird.
@michaelbaron8089SAME
I watched it all before that happened and then was confused about this one thinking “wait didn’t I just watch this?” Not sure why they edited that out because it wasn’t anything bad or omg about it. They said that yes sometimes what you see is like a re-enactment bc of course Netflix didn’t just happen to be at Kimi’s home when he got the call that he was picked up by Mercedes, or they have a setting like Zak and Oscar’s lunch discussion. That wasn’t them in the background tagging along to that. I don’t know if they kept any of that in this re-upload, but they said how it has lost some of the spontaneity bc the teams all know very well that Netflix is there listening and we may not get the scenes like Kevin smashing the door anymore, and some of it seems performative by the teams instead of really a live candid BTS. Or they may show a clip of Silverstone paddock at a different race bc it helps tell the story they’re trying to tell. If they cut that out because that’s supposedly a secret, that’s silly. Don’t most people know it’s not all really real and NOT a David Attenborough documentary?
It makes Red Bull and Marko look as foolish and reactionary as that clown Flavio for yanking Lawson and replacing him with Tsunoda. Maybe they should have stuck with Perez.
Genuinely curious how much money psycho bunny pays Will
100mio i'm gone to! :)
So Naomi big timed the little kid until she found out who the kids parents were? Yeah very humble Naomi.
In DTS S8 in the episode about Papaya Rules - the infamous teamorders in Imola are not even in it...Food for thought, is it to protect McClaren?
It was the same the year before. In Brazil, they don't show how they favoured Lando thus screwing over Max twice with the red flag timing. They had all this natural drama actually happening even leading up to the 17th to 1st race, and they didn't acknowledge it. Prefering to doctoring reactions by taking video from cool down rooms at one race and adding it to another race.
@tobimobiv1...so we have to go back on sporting facts:
In the sprint race in Brazil 2024 McLaren favored Norris, because he was still in the titel fight with Verstappen whereas Piastri was mathematically out of the fight.
After the wdc was decided in Las Vegas, Norris gave this win back to Piastri in the sprint race of Qatar (against team orders).
In Monza 2025, actually PIASTRI was the favored one: He was called to pit first to cover Leclerc, although Norris was the leading McLaren (usual pitorder: leading car pits first, if likes to pit first)
Please check both McLaren team radios yourselves!
Norris was assured by his race engineer Will Joseph "there will be NO UNDERCUT" BEFORE Piastri's pitstop.
Tom Stallard had already made the conditions for his early pitstop crystal clear to Piastri BEFORE Norris' slow pitstop. "We are boxing the cars this way around to ensure you cover Leclerc. You are free with Lando ONCE HE IS AHEAD AT THE PIT EXIT."
And that's exactly the problem with series like DTS: people don't get the whole picture what's really going on. These are made up stories and twisted realities.
But in this specific instance (Monza - Papaya rules) they did the right thing by NOT blowing the incident out of porportion.
I don’t think Flavio came across as funny or amusing in Season 8. I think he came across as a dinosaur, out of touch with modern F1, and frankly just an asshole who is high on his own ego. I was impartial to him last year. This year he’s just a bad smell. All of this, not even discussing the cheating and why he was removed from F1 in the first place…
Here before i watch the video. To answer the question how much if it is scripted, it is all scripted and nothing will change my mind because i see it with my own eyes how they act so PR-ish and narrating. The amount of fake in the series is diabolical
DC has achieved so much outside F1.
And Will as well, he's now at Indycar Series on FOX cable.
Regarding Horner, rumor has it he didn't want to improve or modernize the car. He didn't believe Max Verstappen even had a chance to win the championship. The new management needed to give the fans a spark of hope during Red Bull's terrible season, and they delivered!
I'm so confused by this podcast.. I like it but I'm still waiting for the second episode, I thought this was it but the thumbnail says "Real or Fake" so it's another mini video? I thought it would be out every week, all these videos are different lengths like they're cut from a longer episode. Is this a clips channel?
Will is F awesome.
Only persons reputation that will be hert is Lando
Great stuff! Keep up the good work! Tks!
Im a doctor from Morocco 🇲🇦 north Africa, Arab , Muslim 😅and we have been watching the races with my father since we were kids in tele5 every Sunday 😊!! Now and thanks to your channel and netflix 😂
We can see everything details highlights and all your content is amazing
Thank youu ❤
buxton a joke? yes!
the horner case is being portrayed in the media as "an old man who sent a d... pic to his young assistant," even though, according to the assistant's account, there was never a d... pic. this reveals how a reputation can be so devastating that, unintentionally, the problem is amplified by making approximations or exaggerations.
Then again people tend to be more willing to believe a lie than accept the truth.
Best
My only problem with DTS is that I can no longer get a ticket to watch the GP in my own city (Melbourne) - haven't for 4 years now. Otherwise, it's been great for the sport.
First season was good the rest sucked.
we don't know why christian was fired, and we never will, we can only have assumptions or theories. it would be innapropriate for drive to survive to accuse or provide a specific reason. he said to australian television that medias share fake rumours saying he's talking to every team on the grid. he said he only talked to one, he didn't said which one, but probably alpine. maybe he would like to purchase the team and come back as his own f1 team proprietary, but even with 100 millions, it's probably not enough. he need investors, and he's working hard to find somes. actually investors contacted him drectly, from what he said.
buxton x bad bunny collab
I can't watch Drive to Survive. It's just constant facepalming. Everything is so exaggerated, and they even make up stories. Like, "This is the pivotal race... if he underperforms in this, his career is in jeopardy..." And I'm like, "No! This was just a normal race! His career wasn’t in jeopardy here!" And then they show him crashing into a wall and it's horrific, with disappointed reactions from his team, and I'm like, "God! That crash was in FP1 and it was no drama at all. The reaction from the team was from a different race!" Man, I just can't watch it. They edit in team radio from different races to create a narrative that wasn’t there. I just wish they would stick to the truth and not exaggerate it. There’s plenty of drama anyway.
They cut out so many important moments and just pick and choose what to show the viewers, so they skew the main story of an entire season every single year. watching the entire F1 season compared to drive to survive is completely different
Congratulations on the new show. We’re a few episodes in now, and I really enjoy the dynamic all four of you have together.
The thing is people actually watch this sh*t and then think they're F1 experts.
The F1 sequel.....F2 lol
Would not be surprised if Hollywood did that....
Drive to Surivive is like a bad soap with a bit of racing.
Will Buxton loves money 😅