If you are once again just browsing Netflix to find something to watch, but nothing on your list seems appealing and whatever you start seems boring after 5 minutes, I have a recommendation for you! F1: The Academy is similar to Drive to Survive, but focuses on the 2024 F1 Academy racing series. You don’t even know what that is?
It is an F4 level single-seater racing series, where only girls race. Their race weekends are shared with F1 and all F1 teams have a racer there and a couple other brands sponsor the rest. It is a championship where the winner gets a completely sponsored seat next year at the next level of tracing.
I first heard about it at the beginning of 2024 and I was extremely hurt that nobody thought to tell me about its existence, when it is common knowledge that I am all for female equality (and I’m not going to use the F-word, because someone might misunderstand, but you know what I mean) and Formula 1 is my obsession, so it is obviously something I would be interested in. It is possible that they didn’t know about it either, given it launched only in 2023, but that year was kind of a trial run. Anyway, I decided to be a better friend and I sent the news to all my friends that were interested in F1, so they wouldn’t experience the same.
I wouldn’t say I was following F1 Academy as close as F1 (the level of obsession that goes into F1 cannot really be duplicated because contrary to popular belief I do have a life that requires some time and energy), but I still was aware of what was going on. More so than I am with F2 or F3 though that is changing now. So watching the F1 Academy series on Netflix was a no brainer for me. Also here is my coming out: I did come into the F1 world through Drive to Survive (not completely, but it was a major part), it is my comfort series now, so if they do it for F1 Academy, then damn, I need to see that.
I knew the contestants, I knew the series, mostly knew what went down – I was still superexcited for the premiere. I did NOT expect the level of emotions it brought on me. In F1, I love the cars, I love the history, the grandiosity and the drama of it. But most of all, I’m in love with the stories of it – and I think that is what Drive to Survive is built on (in some cases, the stories are a bit made up, but if you follow reality, it is not that hard to figure out what is only there for the effect). In F1: The Academy it is no different.
You get to meet the sisters from the Emirates who are not performing as they expect themselves to and one of them has to come back from a very serious arm injury. You see the Filipino girl whose life is racing but she makes mistakes after mistake because she is completely distracted by all the media and modeling world where she has to earn the money that keeps her racing. Then there is of course the English girl who either wins this championship or has to stop racing because she cannot afford it anymore.
Some of them say openly that they want to race in Formula 1. But at the moment, the goal of F1 Academy is not really to get them there. More like showing little girls and their parents, but basically everyone that yes, girls can race, too. The level of exposure these young racers get really is priceless for them personally, but also for us as a society, I think.
Susie Wolff, the managing director of F1 Academy says that they don’t want to be a moment, they want to be a movement. And damn, did this TV show move me… Learning about all of these girls’ stories, their struggles to keep racing, to keep getting better, I’m not gonna lie, I cried several times. Yes, I’m a very sensitive person, but it really touched me to just see how much these girls want to race, but most of all win.
It was a lot more relatable to me than Drive to Survive, in the sense that I felt that the problems that were shown seemed to be much more relatable – struggling under pressure, being frustrated when messing up something (and then crying about it), having money problems, all just things we all might have experienced. I loved how openly this was shown and even said out loud explicitly.
I could have binged the whole series in one sitting – it is only 8 episodes of 30-40 mins – but because it premiered during the Spanish GP week, I needed a bit more time. And now, I’m writing this a million years later, but never mind.)
To give you a feel, here are some of my favorite parts: James Vowles, who is everything I strive to be as a human and as a professional, talking to Lia Block the Williams driver about her performance and if she will be signed for the next year. It was so touching: Lia was on the verge of tears, James was tearing up and frankly, I was straight up crying. If you don’t mind spoilers, here is the clip about it:
I also loved the way Abby Pulling was portrayed, I don’t think it is a big spoiler, so here it is: she became the champion. But how she talks about her family and the way they support here was something that also brought me to tears. Her attitude is also something to admire: “not winning is not an option” and look how it got her!
I could go on and on about all the stories, but then you wouldn’t want to watch it, so I will stop here. Know that I have already converted one person to watch F1 Academy (my couchsurfing hostie in Barcelona, Iain), so just be aware that after watching the series, there is a chance, you will also be converted! Have fun!
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