\u201cI think ultimately things changed within the business, within the group. The founder died, and after Dietrich [Mateschitz]\u2019s death, I was probably deemed to have maybe too much control.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jos Verstappen (left) and Christian Horner together in vaguely happier times. Photo \/ Red Bull<\/p>\n
Horner also claims it \u201cwasn\u2019t his choice\u201d to swap Liam Lawson for Yuki Tsunoda<\/a> after two races last season, a decision with which Verstappen disagreed. \u201cI was always pushed to take drivers from the [Red Bull] young driver programme,\u201d he says. \u201cHelmut was a big driver in it.\u201d<\/p>\n In the same interview, Horner reads out a text message from Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, his long-time rival, reminiscing on their battles. It read: \u201cI didn\u2019t know what to say, because on one side you\u2019ve been a real a*** hole. But on the other hand, the sport will miss one of its main protagonists. Who should I fight? And \u2018love to hate\u2019, as you always said? Wolff and Horner have a combined 14 of the last 15 world championships. Not a bad points statistic.\u201d<\/p>\n Horner replied: \u201cI\u2019ve loved locking horns with you all these years. So thank you for the rivalry, the competition and the needle. No one else even came close, as the statistics point out. I wish you all the best for the future. ps You need a haircut.\u201d<\/p>\n There is a moment in the latest series of Drive to Survive that feels like the fly-on-the-wall sports doc equivalent of breaking the fourth wall. F1TV presenter Laura Winter is in the Abu Dhabi pit lane<\/a>, previewing the impending season finale \u2013 where Lando Norris must fend off Max Verstappen and his own McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri to secure his maiden world title \u2013 when she remarks: \u201cIt\u2019s perfectly poised isn\u2019t it? It\u2019s as though the racing gods have written the script for us.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s either the racing gods or Netflix, but someone has scripted it,\u201d former IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe replies.<\/p>\n As if there are not already enough Formula One fans who feel that Netflix is the tail wagging the dog \u2013 conjuring plot twists, controlling the narrative \u2013 now the series-makers are openly mocking them.<\/p>\n Mind you, since those people are unlikely to watch DTS in the first place, maybe it doesn\u2019t matter. We\u2019re up to season eight now, for those keeping count, and this remains very much a series for the sport\u2019s \u201cnewer\u201d fans.<\/p>\n To be honest, it feels almost like painting by numbers at this point. Drivers in private jets, drivers playing padel, drivers on yachts during their summer breaks, drivers with their girlfriends, staged interviews between drivers\/team principals and people from their inner circle, all interspersed with in-race footage and talking heads explaining to viewers what is going on as if they are talking to a 3-year-old.<\/p>\n It is tricky to add much new into the mix. When there is a big news story, DTS sometimes goes light on it. Last year, the biggest stories were Horner\u2019s sacking mid-season<\/a>, and the accusations McLaren favoured Norris over Piastri<\/a>, which became such a big talking point it was raised in the Australian Parliament. It doesn\u2019t feel as if the treatment of either issue quite hits the mark.<\/p>\n Episode four, A Bull With No Horns, deals with the walls closing in on Horner as on-track results and off-track politics conspire to see him ousted after 20 years. But it does not come close to capturing the poison or rancour that actually surrounded those events.<\/p>\n We get a bit of Wolff<\/a> flirting with Max Verstappen<\/a> mid-season, ramping up the pressure on his old adversary. We get some shots of Mintzlaff and Marko looking glum. We have Horner looking physically sick and exclaiming \u201cOh, for f***\u2019s sake\u201d after Verstappen is taken out by Kimi Antonelli in Austria. We get the Dies Irae from the Mozart requiem. But there must be so much content on the cutting room floor. The tension between Horner and Jos Verstappen, which erupted at Silverstone a couple of days before Horner got the bullet. The bad blood with Marko etc.<\/p>\n The trouble here may be the right of veto that teams and drivers get, and it is one of the major problems with DTS in general. The series is so hand in glove with Formula One now \u2013 so in simpatico \u2013 it can end up feeling a bit sterile. So instead of the poison, you get a staged conversation between Horner and his wife Geri, discussing the \u201cs*** sandwich\u201d he has just been served, followed by a sit-down with Horner in his stables at home. Actually, there is some nice content here, including Horner reading out a generous text message he received from Wolff in the aftermath.<\/p>\n Less clear is why DTS ducks the conspiracy theories at McLaren<\/a>. Even if they were fanciful, they became a major talking point last year, particularly after the team orders row at Monza<\/a>, where Piastri was ordered to give way to Norris. Bizarrely, that incident does not even warrant a mention.<\/p>\n Episode three, The Number 1 Problem, deals with McLaren\u2019s decision to have two No 1 drivers despite the tensions that can cause. Nico Rosberg is a useful talking head here, referring back to his tussles with Lewis Hamilton in 2016. We do get the crash in Montreal, where Norris went into the back of Piastri. And Piastri\u2019s 10-second penalty at Silverstone after which he asks the team to swap back positions and is denied (Zak Brown explaining: \u201cWe can\u2019t play God\u201d.) But there is no interrogation of the charges of favouritism in Monza, or in Qatar, where McLaren botched the pit-stop strategy, costing Piastri a possible win as they tried to be even-handed<\/a>.<\/p>\n Where DTS thrives is when its cameras capture genuinely unguarded moments that then make it past the censors. The booing of Horner at the season launch at the O2 Arena in episode one, New Kids on the Block. Drivers looking genuinely embarrassed backstage. Hamilton saying: \u201cS***\u201d. Liam Lawson<\/a> asking: \u201cWait, how? In London?\u201d Verstappen saying: \u201cI don\u2019t give a f***.\u201d<\/p>\n It can be insightful too. Episode six, The Duel, is brilliant on Antonelli, one of last year\u2019s rookies, showing him in a genuinely sympathetic light. Under immense pressure after a poor run in mid-season, the teenager\u2019s humility, his vulnerability and the relationship with his family, are all well handled. You cannot help but be delighted when he finishes second in Brazil.<\/p>\nLando Norris (left), Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen took out the top three places in the 2025 drivers’ championship. Photo \/ Red Bull<\/p>\n