F1 Drive To Survive Season 5 Reaction PART 2 | DTS Ep. 6-10 | Grid Walk Show

Welcome to part 2 of Grid Walk Show’s reaction to season 5 of Netflix’s Drive to Survive. Briana and Nicole are giving you their honest and raw reaction while binge watching the entire new season of Drive to Survive. In Part 2, Briana and Nicole breakdown Episode 6-”Nice Guys Finish Last," Episode 7-”Hot Seat,” Episode 8-”Alpha Male,” Episode 9-“Over the Limit,” and Episode 10-”End of the Road.”

What is Grid Walk you ask? Nicole and Briana aim to bring their F1 group chat to you every Thursday with funny recurring segments and fast-paced banter. Grid Walk releases every week (not just race weeks). No recaps here - we discuss the most interesting topics of the week by trying to discover why decisions were made and/or make predictions for the future. For daily F1 content follow @gridwalkshow on all social media platforms.

Brianna and Nicole record their reactions to watching Season 5 of the Netflix docuseries Drive to Survive, which covers the 2022 Formula One racing season. They provide in-depth commentary while analyzing each episode and the overall portrayals of teams, drivers, and key storylines.

In Episode 6, they react to Daniel Ricciardo's painful exit from McLaren as he loses his race seat. They feel the behind-the-scenes access to meetings with team principals is a strength of the episode, though the on-track battle for the open Alpine seat is fabricated. They debate whether Ricciardo ever actually had a chance at Alonso’s vacant seat while dissecting the PR and contract negotiations shown between drivers like Piere Gasly, Daniel Ricciardo, and teams like Alpine and McLaren.

Nicole in particular finds it difficult to watch Ricciardo struggle through the season only to ultimately lose his drive, rating it highly for emotional impact but critical of manufactured driver battles on track. Brianna highlights McLaren’s reputation taking a hit as they mishandled telling Ricciardo about his exit. They lament the lack of closure or full-circle moment with Ricciardo returning to Red Bull.

In Episode 7, they criticize the focus on Perez’s contract renewal with Red Bull centering around his Monaco GP win, when most signs already pointed to his pre-Monaco re-signing. Too much race replay footage and not enough behind-the-scenes access or context around suspicions Perez crashed deliberately in qualifying.

Episode 8 explores Yuki Tsunoda’s growth alongside Pierre Gasly’s mentorship, but the hosts find the episode bland and lacking heart, missing the mundane off-track personality moments that make Drive to Survive different from a regular F1 season recap.

The critical Episode 9 examines Red Bull’s budget cap violation and how the team spins its PR response, with good insider meetings shown prior to Horner addressing the media. The hosts get fiery discussing the penalties, frustrated that the breach occurs during Red Bull’s 2021 title win over Lewis Hamilton. They dissect Horner’s defense and the long-term implications of the ruling undermining budget cap integrity in the future.

In the finale, Brianna and Nicole feel bittersweet about the Ricciardo tribute montage, sharing criticism about the short runtime and how the ending lacks closure for some driver moves happening in the offseason. They speculate Drive to Survive is missing key context for viewers unfamiliar with nuances about certain personalities appearing at the end.

Rating the season overall, Nicole finds it emotionally taxing while Brianna sees positives in the unfiltered nature of Mercedes’ porpoising and Red Bull rule-breaking crises being displayed. They express disappointment about too few episodes showing their favorite drivers’ personalities off the track. They feel Drive to Survive depends on characters and compelling individual story arcs, which were lacking beyond the Ricciardo and Piastri sóap operas.

They reaffirm love for F1 and hope producers reflect on feedback for Season 6, wanting more silly filler moments that don’t feel so race-recap dependent. The hosts believe lead figures like Max Verstappen exerting more creative control contributed to reduced drama and access. They also felt emotional driver interviews were down despite the huge personality characters like Leclerc and Sainz possess.

In summary, Brianna and Nicole rate Season 5 as mediocre overall but stress optimism about the future. They acknowledge the crucial platform Drive to Survive represents to expand F1 fandom. They can’t wait to cover the 2023 season themselves using more podcast reaction episodes to analyze real-time events with their trademark humor and hot takes.