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As a kid, Mike Janik spent his days crashing Hot Wheels cars and playing racing games.
Now, two decades later, he’s “dizzy” knowing he’s competing in the 2022 Canadian Formula One Grand Prix in Montreal this weekend – and can check if he’s getting “the pinnacle of motorsport” from his off the bucket list.
Growing up, Janik always followed the rally scene. Until one day he stumbled upon F1 highlights on YouTube and his interest went “from zero to 100”.
“I had no idea until I… tuned in in the blink of an eye, with a snap of my fingers, every race weekend,” said Janik. “I don’t miss a beat.”
Since the Netflix series Drive to survive – featuring behind-the-scenes footage of the usually secretive racing teams – debuting in 2019, audiences have skyrocketed for F1. In May, the show was confirmed for seasons five and six. And Apple Studios has confirmed it is producing a racing film starring Brad Pitt and co-produced by champion driver Lewis Hamilton.
But it’s more than other studios trying to capitalize on the new audience for F1. Other sports, like the PGA Tour, want to see if they can too.
As F1 focuses on high-octane racing, the show lifts the curtain on the drama and complexities of what goes into making a living as a Formula 1 driver.
“I think the most enlightening part of this series…was just understanding the true team effort behind it,” said Janik. “Seeing these teams go above and beyond to last thousandths of a second and just play at this superhuman level really got me.”
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Popularity as the driving force behind new content
The show’s humanity is part of its recipe for success, says Adam Seaborn, sports media analyst and head of partnerships at Playmakers Capital.
It takes audiences beyond the track, giving people a chance to connect with the drivers and teams — and it breaks down the complexities of racing for people who might not otherwise follow sporting events, he said.
“You can get a story,” he said. “You can know their backstories, you know the rivalries where they grew up … So it’s easy to understand who’s up against who each week.”
The popularity of the sport and its Netflix show has pushed the streaming platform into a bidding war for broadcast rights to F1 series races in hopes of ousting ESPN, whose TV rights end next season.
People also watch the show outside of prime time, with an average of 200,000 to 400,000 viewers per race between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m., Seaborn said. In Canada alone, the show’s ratings doubled from last year, he said.
“Netflix is in millions and millions of homes in Canada,” Seaborn said. “I find [Formula One] met an intersection between digital media, social media and sport at the perfect time.”
On the way to stardom
In the past, movies like Hurry up and Ford versus Ferrari marked a starting point for the growing media presence of racing. But reality TV boosted Formula 1’s visibility and crossed the line between sport and entertainment.
“What we’re obsessed with and interested in right now is actually driving the content, which I find so exciting,” said Alexandra Nikolajev, who began watching the series during the pandemic.
She was fascinated by the sport and its level of luxury and exclusivity. Only 20 drivers can compete, creating a behind-the-scenes world of drama, politics and teamwork between the drivers and car designers.
And F1 stars themselves embrace new media, said Nikolajev, who shares pop culture analysis on TikTok with her more than 92,000 followers.
“They start doing podcasts, they start doing interviews,” she said, adding that fans are “starting to get invested.”
Not everyone agrees with bringing F1 racing to the masses, Nikolajev said. There has been backlash from old fans who would prefer the sport to retain its air of exclusivity.
“But I think the whole point of content these days is accessibility – and it brings us all together. And I think it’s…amazing that we’re pushing that boundary further.”
Motorists are committed to social change
Reaching this larger audience has given riders the opportunity to push other boundaries.
Drivers use their celebrity status to speak up for human rights issues — and other causes they are connected to, said Shanika Abeysinghe, co-host of to be checkeda Canadian Formula 1 podcast.
“Riders are committed to change, whether it’s in their own little world or publicly or whatever that is,” Abeysinghe said.
Sebastian Vettel has advocated the inclusion of an LGBTQ driver in Formula 1 and wore a rainbow shirt with the words “Same Love” at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix. Hamilton is the only black Formula 1 driver and he made it a non-profit organization to identify and break down the barriers for black people in British motorsport.
But for all the sport’s popularity, Abeysinghe said, it still doesn’t reflect the diversity of its growing fan base.
“It’s the powers that be who are the FIA who need to realize that we need a woman to drive, we need someone who identifies as LGBTQ to drive,” she said. “There are only 20 seats – so how do we bring justice to a sport that is inherently unfair?”
Inspirational copycat shows
As Drive to survive Looking ahead to next season, other sports federations are exploring the possibility of using the show as a template for sports media development.
The PGA Tour has struck a deal with Netflix to make the sport accessible behind the scenes and try to recreate it Drive to Survives Success.
“In many ways, there are many similarities. It’s athletes who are independent contractors who have great storylines,” Seaborn said.
“You bring them in with the entertainment piece. It’s exciting, it’s supposed to be fun. And when you become a true fan, you become hardcore.”