Otmar Szafnauer, Alpine's team boss, has stated that he is in favor of the 'Drive to Survive' documentary having access to managerial meetings. This is what happened in Canada
Should the cameras of Netflix and its docuseries 'Drive to Survive' enter team bosses' meetings with Formula 1's top brass, as happened at the Canadian GP weekend? Alpine boss Otmar Szafnauer says yes. Szafnauer sees it as a source of fan interest.
During the Canadian weekend, the production team captured a heated discussion between the heads of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull during a breakfast meeting with Stefano Domenicali, F1's CEO. The reason for the discussion was the technical directive handed down by the FIA days earlier with regard to the cars' pitching.
According to the Alpine boss, it is impossible to know for sure what effect the cameras have on the meetings, but, one way or another, the fans like the access and believe, as does Christian Horner, that there is, yes, a difference.
"They certainly increased my reticence to say anything! I don't know, should Netflix be there or not? I remember watching the 'Senna' documentary, and so many years ago they already had cameras at these meetings. Is it good for the fans, does it help to understand this kind of situation? Maybe," he evaluated.
"Does it create a drama that otherwise would not exist? I don't know. It's hard to say, because it's not a controlled experiment. You would have to have the same meeting without them being there, so I don't know, but I know people will believe it has an influence. Maybe it does. Whether it is good or bad, I don't know, but I think it is the kind of thing that fans want to see and understand. It creates attraction for our sport. I think it's good. Even seeing it in February next year is better than not seeing it at all," he explained.
The head of Alpine took the opportunity to say that during the flight to Canada he met two fans who fell in love with Formula 1 because of the series.
"I met one from Chicago and one from Michigan. They both told me that they became fans during Covid. I didn't really understand, but they explained that during their period of social isolation, they only watched F1 on TV. Then they said that they started to watch all the races and the Netflix series, so they started to have an understanding. And they went to Canada to see their second race [Miami was the other]," he recounted.
"So if it helps to attract people like that, since we have a great sport... They were little kept secrets before. If we can expose it to more people, it will be better for everyone," he finished.
Formula One returns next weekend, July 1-3, at Silverstone with the British Grand Prix.
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