Racing
© Chris Game
Netflix has confirmed Formula 1: Drive to Survive will return for a ninth season, with the series set to follow a 2026 title fight transformed by Kimi Antonelli’s rise at Mercedes.
The new season will document the ongoing Formula 1 World Championship and arrives with Antonelli providing its defining competitive thread so far. In only his second season in the sport, the Mercedes driver became the youngest competitor ever to lead the championship after winning the Chinese and Japanese Grands Prix in succession.
Antonelli did not merely take a brief advantage in the standings. He won six Grands Prix in the opening half of the campaign, turning what had initially appeared to be a Mercedes season centered on George Russell into an internal championship contest. He now holds a 59-point lead over both Russell and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, who are tied for second.
That shift gives Drive to Survive a clear story to follow behind the scenes: a young driver establishing himself at the front of Formula 1 while his more experienced team-mate remains directly involved in the title battle. The standings also put added focus on the pressure within Mercedes as the season continues.
James Gay-Rees and Paul Martin, executive producers at Box to Box Films, the production company behind the series, said the ninth season will aim to take viewers further inside the championship.
“We’re so excited to be making Season 9 of this iconic show,” Gay-Rees and Martin said in a statement. “This year we’re going to go deeper than ever before into the hidden spaces of this fantastic sport.”
Drive to Survive debuted on Netflix in 2019 and has since chronicled the F1 paddock through its drivers, team figures and off-track access. Its format has made the championship’s internal dynamics and personal stories a major part of its appeal beyond Grand Prix results.
The series has also remained divisive among parts of the F1 audience and some drivers, who have argued that it can heighten drama and does not always portray events realistically. Netflix has not announced a precise release date for Season 9, leaving the remainder of the 2026 championship to determine how Antonelli’s breakthrough season and Mercedes’ title contest ultimately unfold.