Race to Perfection

This is an F1 production to mark their 70th anniversary. Yes, it's rich in material but as @rvdave-86603 pointed out in his review, it is a promo piece that can't decide its target audience. For those who follow closely there's precious little new but for those who this piece would act as an initiation and introduction, it lacked structure and a narrative. Looking at it, you'd think F1 is not 70 years but F1 somehow only really started in the late 80's.

To me, it felt like it tried to cram everything in an episode without either going into depth or following a narrative arc. I wish it followed the timeline more closely as there is no shortage of stories to cover from before 1990.

From the silver star domination which introduced organisation and professionalism in F1 and Le Mans tragedy in the 50's, Lotus and the focus on aero and light weight of the 60's/70's to the turbo era ushered by Renault 70's/80's before more modern times covered here.

CAVEAT: I write this after watching Episode 1 only.

A collection of archival film and video, with some more or less related interviews interspersed. There is no real narrative structure underlaying the series, no sense that it has a director or a production vision.

Watching the first episode, viewers can think that a story - a narrative - is beginning to form, but then we're jolted into a completely other direction, with a different timeframe and different people involved. We scratch our heads wondering what happened. Did we fall asleep and miss something?

The subject is so rich in material, it's too bad that this is what F1 put out for its anniversary. But, maybe it's because Ecclestone still had a lot of sway at the time.

F1 still has a problem that it has not reckoned with, and that is its British bias. As it strains against these constraints, the Old Brit White Men (and other Old Men) work harder to maintain their power, their elitism, their misogyny and their prejudices.

This sloppy pseudo-documentary is a great display of that heritage.

Knowing a fair bit about F1 before viewing this series can help you enjoy the archives and, somewhat, the interviews. Know that you'll need to fill the many, many gaps. Also know that you're unlikely to learn anything new, and that there are much better resources for leaning about F1.

I'm a casual fan of F1 but I don't know the history of the sport that well so I was very excited to watch this. What I got was a disjointed commercial break to commercial break series of vignettes with no structure or arc. Like another reviewer said, unless you already know the history, a lot of this material won't make much sense. For example, the fan car... I only know about that because of a YouTube video but if I hadn't seen that other video I'd have been like, what's a fan car and why did it matter? This desperately needed a narrator and some direction instead of whatever this is. What a shame.

I've only been following Formula 1 for the past twelve years, so I'm unfamiliar with the great stories and drivers of F1's past. Although this mini-series could've been organized better, it does have interviews with the people who were a part of these great stories, people who knew these great drivers, and so in these ways, it is certainly worth your time if you are a fan of the sport.

It's strange how a series on the history of F1can be made without covering the brilliance of Bruce McLaren and the team he created.