There could have been no Drive to Survive without Daniel Ricciardo, according to executive producer Paul Martin, as the popular docudrama prepares for an era without the charismatic Aussie.
Drive to Survive’s groundbreaking level of access to the ordinarily clandestine F1 paddock has been widely credited for the sport’s booming popularity by creating a new generation of fans, particularly among younger age groups and in the United States.
Ricciardo fast emerged as one of the unofficial main characters of the series, with the producers magnetised by his larrikin personality and with the Perth native more than willing to play his part in the show’s success.
The Australian’s 2018 campaign and decision to leave Red Bull Racing for Renault was a major storyline in the first season of DTS, which featured interviews with his family and was shot partially on Ricciardo’s West Australian farm.
He’s been a continued high-profile presence ever since despite his on-track exploits being of declining importance to the leaders.
But this year’s season, which looks back on the 2022 championship and will premiere on Friday, will be Ricciardo’s last for the foreseeable future.
The Australian is taking a sabbatical from the sport after being sacked by McLaren, and though he’s taken up a position as third driver at Red Bull Racing, he’ll be in the paddock for only around a handful of races during the year.
For Morris, series executive producer and founder of production company Box to Box Films, it marks the sad end of an era.
“Without Daniel I think there probably wouldn’t have been a Drive to Survive,” Martin told the New York Post. “He was the first driver that we talked to about it, the first driver that invited us to his home in Australia.
“I felt very emotional with him leaving.”
But after five seasons in the paddock, Martin said the series had developed a good rapport with several leading characters who could potentially move into Ricciardo’s starring role for future campaigns.
Pierre Gasly, whose entire full-time Formula 1 career has taken place in the Drive to Survive era, is an obvious contender, and the Frenchman’s move to Alpine, where he and new teammate Esteban Ocon are patching up a bitter childhood rivalry, will undoubtedly prove a useful hook for a new series.
“For me, Gasly has always been in that role as well,” he said. “The show’s been on this amazing journey with Pierre and I feel quite emotionally attached to him.
“We’ve seen him go through some incredible lows: the season where he was demoted [from Red Bull Racing] and Anthoine [Hubert] died. So to see him finally get a chance again in a competitive car is going to be great.
“He’s grown on screen as a driver and as a person, so I think he’ll be someone who will really fill the gap that Daniel leaves.”
Ricciardo will feature prominently in at least one more episode, titled ‘Nice Guys Finish Last’, which will presumably detail the end of his ill-fated McLaren career.
Upon reading the episode title on Instagram, the Aussie quipped in the comments, “At least I’m a good bloke”.
But Martin is hopeful it won’t be the final episode featuring the eight-time race winner.
“I’m a big fan of the old 80s soap operas, so it feels a bit like Bobby Ewing,” he said, referencing the character brought back to life in the TV show Dallas after an entire season of the series was infamously retrospectively written off as being a bad dream.
“[Drive to Survive] is a soap opera: characters get killed off, they come back, new characters come on.
“I wouldn’t be surprised to see Daniel pop up in the shower [like Ewing] at some point this year.”
Certainly some Ricciardo fans would prefer to reflect on 2022 as one long bad dream from which they might yet wake up.
