Last fall, ESPN signed a new contract with F1 through 2025 that includes airing a minimum of 16 races on ABC and ESPN, with the rest on ESPN2. American fans will continue to get the Sky Sports F1 feed ad-free during the races, helmed by commentators David “Crofty” Croft and Martin Brundle.
“Making viewership predictions for an upcoming year isn’t something we do, though of course we’d love to see it rise again,” Hall said.
He said the TV rights will continue to coexist with the paid F1TV app, on which super-fans can view races directly and watch live onboards of all drivers and more during race weekends.
‘Drive to Survive’: Season 5 preview
The explosion of the U.S. fan base has been fueled by “Drive to Survive,” which began in 2019 and rolled out all 10 episodes of its fifth season Friday morning on Netflix. The series once again includes tantalizing behind-the-scenes footage and previously unseen interviews with drivers and teams, capturing the glory and pain and humanity coursing through the paddock.
The new season sheds new light on the biggest stories of 2022, including Ferrari’s roller coaster and how team principal Mattia Binotto navigated an impressive start that became a spectacular collapse, until he was replaced after the season.
Unlike last season, when he iced out Netflix over disagreements about how he was portrayed earlier in the series, Verstappen takes part as he defends his world championship.
The show chronicles Mercedes boss Toto Wolff — still bitter about the 2021 finale — as he copes with a subpar car after years of domination. Seven-time champ Lewis Hamilton isn’t over it, either.
“I’m trying to take back the championship that was taken from me,” he says.
Of course, that doesn’t happen. Wolff’s simmering frustration boils over into some of the show’s most riveting footage at a team principals’ meeting ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix about the bouncing, or “porpoising,” effects Mercedes suffered from the most. Wolff loses his temper and tangles with arch-rival Christian Horner, the Red Bull boss, in an expletive-laden war of words.
Despite Red Bull’s crushing the competition, the season has dark moments for Horner as he contends with blowback after Red Bull marginally breached the spending cap. The season provides a window into how he sought to deal with the referees, reassure his team and keep Verstappen on his game, all at the same time.
Fans of the departing McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo, who was cut from the team and won’t have a race seat this year, will get a fitting farewell to one of the show’s most beloved personalities.
Yet the new season leaves numerous stones unturned about teammate rivalries. What was up with Verstappen’s refusal to return a favor to teammate Sergio Perez in Brazil? How did Hamilton feel about losing to his new, young Mercedes teammate, George Russell, and about failing to win a race all season for the first time in 16 years? Fans won’t get much insight into those questions in the new season.
The show barely touches perhaps the biggest question in the sport: How much longer will Hamilton, 38, continue to race? His contract is up at the end of 2023. He says he will race at least this year and hopes to stick around “for a while.”
Hamilton recently revealed that he was offered the chance to play a fighter pilot in “Top Gun: Maverick” but was forced to pull out because the shooting schedule conflicted with racing season. One thing Hamilton says he won’t do for F1 again is turn down another opportunity to be in a “Top Gun” movie with Tom Cruise.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
