Formula 1: Drive To Survive – Episode 8, No Regrets

We are with the McLaren boys of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris, actually, we open with Lando whilst he’s streaming live on Twitch and decides to call Sainz on his mobile.

Hilariously, Sainz has no idea who is calling, “who is calling me?”, Lando thinks he’s joking but finally realises he isn’t, “Landooooo” comes the call when it does finally click.

The focus is on Sainz as he prepares to leave McLaren, something he admits will be hard to do, to move to Ferrari for 2021.

But, in the end, no matter how badly Ferrari are doing at this moment in time, the draw to prancing horse is just too great for most drivers, Sainz included.

Netflix attempts to inject some “how will the relationship between McLaren and Sainz work, as he’s leaving” jeopardy into the whole situation. However, you quickly realise that McLaren and Zak Brown are not Renault and Cyril Abiteboul.

In so far as Zak and McLaren are far more professional, a subtle sort of shrug if you will, “it will be hard to see him leave but we move on” is the general consensus and, other than not giving away too much information, it’s business as usual.

For fans of McLaren, or Sainz, you will remember that this was a season for him to forget; bad pit stops from the team, team orders coming into play and the car expires.

We revisit Monza, the scene of one of Ferrari’s race weekends to forget when both cars fail to finish, but McLaren, and in particular Sainz, has a race to remember.

With the topsy-turvy race, Gasly ends up leading and Sainz has the chance to win if he can just catch and pass him within the final few laps.

Despite giving it his all, Sainz can only get to the back of Gasly’s gearbox and not past him. He finishes second, still amazing, but you can see he’s gutted not to have won.

The obvious question arises as to whether Sainz is regretting his decision to move to what, at the moment at least, is an inferior team. He says he isn’t, but you have to wonder…