Drive to Survive season 5

A new season of Drive to Survive has become a fixture of any Formula One fan’s calendar and the fifth installment of the blockbuster hit is no different.

This year’s installment opened a lid on several key moments and storylines last year. ESPN was in the paddock as they unfolded and can shed more light on some areas and reveal a few moments the docuseries missed.

Schumacher and Haas seemed destined to fail

The breakdown of the relationship between Mick Schumacher and Haas boss Guenther Steiner is a fascinating backdrop to the fourth episode, one of the strongest in the new season.

It was clear within the paddock in the early stages of last year that patience with Schumacher was running thin. Big crashes in Saudi Arabia and Monaco, combined with his failure to match the big results of Kevin Magnussen when Haas had a competitive midfield car, were clearly grating on the team’s management. The feeling within the team was that Schumacher had to prove himself if he wanted a 2023 seat but it was interesting to see how the perception was away from the paddock, something which is captured well during the episode.

In Baku, Steiner calls one interview with Sky Germany “brutal” as they questioned whether the team was giving the youngster the support he needed. It was clear throughout the season that the German media were being briefed by Schumacher’s camp that Haas were not giving him fair treatment, an implication which annoyed Steiner and others at the team further. In 2021 Haas had dealt with Nikita Mazepin and his father’s complaints that the team were not treating the Russian rookie fairly when he was not performing and there was a feeling in the team this was just an extension of the same line of excuses when Schumacher was the one in the firing line. As the episode shows, team owner Gene Haas felt Schumacher was “in over his head”.

There were other things which soured the relationship behind the scenes beyond the primary factor, which was Schumacher’s poor results and habit for sticking the car in the wall. Schumacher missing a meeting with Steiner early in the season did not help, nor did the presence of those close to him. Sources say the team grew increasingly frustrated by the overbearing presence of Schumacher’s manager Sabine Kehm, who held the same role with Mick’s father Michael for much of his legendary career. It was felt within the team that Kehm…