Picture: Netflix
Netflix’s flagship sports docu-series F1: Drive to Survive will return for an eighth season. According to multiple persons attached to the project and the film crew spotted amongst the paddock in the pitlane for the Australian Grand Prix, we know that season 8 is a go.
As mentioned, we’ve now spotted multiple people connected to the show listing an eighth season on their profiles, with work commencing on the project in February just a few weeks before testing for the new F1 season commenced. If that wasn’t enough, Sky Sports F1 presenter Ted Kravitz also spotted and pointed out the Netflix crew while filming his notebook for qualifying. Tongue-in-cheek, he referred to the upcoming series of Drive to Survive as “season 856.”
The renewal comes during simultaneous expansions and contractions for Netflix Sports. Over the past few years, numerous copycat series, sometimes with Box to Box’s involvement, have come, and some are now falling away. Break Point was the first significant cancelation in the space following season 2, with this year seeing both Tour De France: Unchained and Six Nations: Full Contact canceled after their third and second seasons, respectively.
That said, Formula 1: Drive to Survive is still performing incredibly well in Netflix viewership despite some decay in recent years. As we’ve covered more in-depth here, Drive to Survive, at least featured in the global weekly Netflix top 10s, a feat most of its other sporting counterparts on Netflix can’t achieve. Season 7 ranked ninth in the English TV top 10s for the first week of availability, with 19.2 M global hours watched (down 12% YOY) which equates to 2.6 M total views.
What to Expect From Drive to Survive Season 8 – When Will It Release on Netflix?
Most of the storylines of season 8 are being written as we speak, as the season gets underway. Lewis Hamilton’s big move to Ferrari was a significant talking point in season 7, so we’ll see whether that’s a match made in heaven by the time the year ends. Will McLaren continue their dominance over rival teams, and will there be any mid-season shakeups in the lineups, given the number of rookies this year? Will we get to see some of the early development of the 2026 cars or get an inside track into Andretti joining the paddock? We’ll have to wait and see.
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Speaking with THR, executive producer on the show teased the big overarching storylines for what would be in the eighth season: “It’ll be fascinating to see how Charles and Lewis get on. It’s gonna be fascinating to see how Sainz and Albon get on. Only McLaren stayed with the same driver pairing. So everywhere you look, there are new combinations. I mean, Liam Lawson’s a really punchy kid. He is number two, but he’s going to have a crack. All those rookies are coming in, I didn’t get a sense they’re there to make up the numbers. I think they’re all there [on merit] considering how massive the sport has grown and how much focus there is on it. There’s going to be cheesy story lines.”
When will season 8 of Drive to Survive be on Netflix? The 2026 calendar has yet to be officially unveiled, meaning we can’t give an exact prediction, but the release schedule has remained the same since the show first started dropping on Netflix. New episodes have always come a week before the season’s opening race and the week after testing, traditionally in March.
Elsewhere, 2025 will also see the launch of F1 Academy, which recently wrapped filming. The new series, produced with Hello Sunshine,
What’s on Netflix did reach out to Netflix for comment but has yet to receive a response.
Rating: TV-MA
