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Formula 1

Explore episode Mar 2, 2026

Sports

The Brawn GP Miracle: From £1 to World Champions in One Year

Formula 1 · Mar 2, 2026 Sports

Ross Brawn bought the defunct Honda F1 team for £1 in 2008, couldn't find a title sponsor, got a Mercedes engine shoehorned into an ill-fitting Honda chassis, and then — thanks to a secret aerodynamic innovation called the double diffuser — won both the Drivers' and Constructors' Championships in their first season. Mercedes bought the team for $200M the next year. It's now worth $6B.

Where this was said

Drive to Survive

At 3:07:30 · chapter starts 3:05:03

The genesis of Drive to Survive involved a competitive bidding process between Netflix and Amazon, with F1 ultimately choosing Netflix's lower bid because Netflix had roughly twice Amazon's US audience and the growth argument was more compelling than incremental rights fees. Production went to Box to Box Films, which had made the acclaimed 2010 Senna documentary, and F1 gave them complete creative control and final cut — a crucial decision. Mercedes and Ferrari initially refused to participate, which meant the show launched with only the bottom eight teams, accidentally creating richer character-driven narratives around drivers like Daniel Ricciardo. After seasons 1 and 2 built slowly, season 3 became a massive hit, and Mercedes and Ferrari's sponsors pressured them to join by asking why they weren't getting the impressions. The pandemic proved fortuitous: Drive to Survive was on Netflix just as the world went into lockdown, and F1 was one of the first sports to return with bubbled doubleheaders. The show became number one in 93 countries at peak and is estimated to reach 40–50 million unique viewers per season. Female F1 fans grew from 7% to approximately 40%. US viewership of Grand Prix races grew from 500,000 in 2018 to 3.1 million at the Miami 2024 peak.^{[1]

— Ben Gilbert

"Drive to Survive didn't succeed because racing is visually compelling — it succeeded because the 'World Cup of Office Politics' makes incre…"

3:06:59} Most strikingly, Oracle's CMO publicly stated that watching Drive to Survive was the direct reason they committed to a $500M, 5-year title sponsorship of Red Bull Racing.

TV & Film

Drive to Survive: The Greatest Sports Media Product Ever Made

Formula 1 · Mar 2, 2026 TV & Film

Drive to Survive didn't succeed because racing is visually compelling — it succeeded because the 'World Cup of Office Politics' makes incredible reality television. The key unlocks: giving Netflix full creative control and final cut, focusing on the bottom 8 teams when Mercedes and Ferrari refused to participate, and discovering that young women across America were the untapped audience. Female F1 fans went from 7% to ~40%.

This is what makes F1 great. It's really not watching the races. The races are fine. There's not that much passing. Once you get through the first turn, you know, you kind of know who's most likely to win... But this act of heroics and teamwork and personality and perseverance and engineering — this is what makes F1 great.

Ben Gilbert

Formula 1

TV & Film

Drive to Survive: #1 Netflix in 93 countries

Formula 1 · Mar 2, 2026

Drive to Survive became the number one Netflix show in 93 countries at peak, and each season is estimated to have been viewed by 40–50 million unique people.

Sports

US F1 viewership: 0.5M → 3.1M peak

Formula 1 · Mar 2, 2026

US viewership of F1 Grand Prix races grew from about 500,000 in 2018 (pre-Drive to Survive) to a peak of 3.1 million for the 2024 Miami Grand Prix.

In one year, this team and Ross Brawn went from new Honda team principal to nearly out of the sport to owner of his own team for £1— to world champion.

David Rosenthal

Formula 1

Society & Culture

Female F1 fans: 7% → ~40%

Formula 1 · Mar 2, 2026

The percentage of F1's audience that is women grew from just 7% to an estimated 40% since Drive to Survive launched, transforming the sport's demographic profile.

TV & Film

F1 movie grossed $630M worldwide

Formula 1 · Mar 2, 2026

The 2024 F1 movie starring Brad Pitt grossed $630 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing sports movie ever and the biggest box office hit of Brad Pitt's career.

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