It’s grand prix week in Melbourne and that’s the trigger for more than just another Formula One shoot-out on the streets of Albert Park.

It’s also the signal for another rampaging season of Drive to Survive on Netflix.

The insider television series has been responsible for the biggest uptick in F1 support in the history of motorsport and helped to create a new generation of superstars led by Mighty Max Verstappen, new world champion Lando Norris, Australia’s Oscar Piastri and Guenther ’Sweary Man’ Steiner.

The former Haas team boss is gone from the grand prix pitlane but there is no shortage of F-bombs in the latest season of Drive to Survive, as the editors seem to have delighted in catching everyone from drivers to team bosses and even mechanics in their most stressful moments. Is it necessary? Probably not.

But Netflix has produced another winner for 2026 by mining the best moments of season ’25 and the three-way title fight between Verstappen, Piastri and Norris for the world championship crown.

The pictures are brilliant as always, there are plenty of sidebar stories – including a passenger ride for Williams team boss James Vowles with the US navy’s Blue Angles display team – and the action is great.

What sort of insider things do we learn in the latest series?

Well, McLaren team boss Zak Brown chews his fingernails and his chief-of-staff doesn’t like it.

Mercedes driver George Russell is working on a men’s skincare range.

Jack Doohan had genuine death threats, and needed close personal protection, in the troubled time leading up to his sacking by the Alpine team.

There is lots more as the cameras track the stars and are sometimes slammed out of stressful situations in the filming for Season 8.

Once again, the eight-part series is more like an unscripted soap opera than a genuine documentary, but that will be perfect for the casual fans.

They are the people who have turned the F1 weekend in Melbourne into a sporting must-do alongside the AFL Grand Final and the Australian Open tennis. It’s the Melbourne Cup with cars.

But there is lots for serious F1 followers, who will find plenty of of nuggets and insights that only come from being deeply embedded in the world of Formula One.

It’s a must-watch and all eight episodes have dropped for binge watching just in time to set the scene for the Australian Grand Prix, with the biggest technical changes in recent F1 history to potentially upend the pecking order as Cadillac and Ford join the battle.