ILLUSTRATION: PAUL RYDING
It should all be looking rosy at Formula One HQ right now, but this long-time fan thinks the sport has got itself into a bit of a bind, and it may struggle to see a way out of it. The sport has done a Dorian Gray, only in this case, the devil is Netflix. Everyone involved in any commercial area of F1 cannot quite believe the shot in the arm Drive to Survive has given the sport. Just when it was struggling to reach more people and crucially, a younger audience, the whole soap opera ended up being a hit and suddenly an Austrian man saying “Vanker” was more popular than Lewis Hamilton. As an old fart, I was glad because it looked like F1 had a future. But I was also worried, because that new audience wouldn’t be as forgiving as the longstanding saddos of yesteryear.