(Motorsport-Total.com) – The Netflix series “Drive to Survive” offers extraordinary insights into Formula 1 and excites fans around the world. The popular documentary series provides exclusive access to the Formula 1 paddock, which also means that those involved have to get creative to protect their privacy.
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The former Alpine and Aston Martin team principal Otmar Szafnauer has now revealed his bizarre method with which he made his surroundings aware that he was wearing a microphone for the filming. “I put a strip of tape on my forehead that said ‘Netflix’,” said the American in the podcast High Performance Racing.
“That way, anyone who spoke to me could immediately see that I was wired.” When asked if the team principal was constantly equipped with a microphone at every race back then, Szafnauer confirmed that the audio recording was only used when his team was the focus of the respective episode.
Ex-Team Principal: “You tend to say all sorts of things”
“When we were the focus of the story, I wore a microphone – even on the starting grid,” explained Szafnauer. Although the series is only broadcast after the season in which the material was recorded, the former team principal emphasized how important it was to protect the team’s operational secrets.
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“[There are] still strategic things you do at the pit wall that you don’t want them to know,” the now 62-year-old recalled that you always had to be careful during filming. “You tend to say all sorts of things because emotions run high – and they recorded everything.”
“Drive to Survive,” produced by Netflix and Box to Box Films, gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look at Formula 1 and its drivers. In spring 2026, the eighth season (all details here!) was already released, featuring the most important moments and dramas of the past 2025 Formula 1 season.
Since the release of the first season in 2019, the series has significantly contributed to sharpening the profile of the drivers by giving them a platform to show their personality and life off the track. Additionally, the show was a major reason for the popularity boom of the premier class in the United States.
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