Red Bull Racing Joins the Pile-On After Netflix’s “Hot Drivers” F1 Promo Bombs on Social Media

Brand-on-brand sniping is usually reserved for fast food chains squabbling over chicken sandwiches. This week it arrived in Formula 1, with the official Red Bull Racing account using its X feed to take a swing at Netflix over a promotional clip the streamer probably wishes it had never posted in the first place.

What happened, if you missed it:

Netflix put up a post captioned “How to get your friend into Formula 1,” using a clip from the comedy Running Point in which one character shows another a picture of Carlos Sainz and reacts by calling F1 drivers “hot European guys with perfect cheekbones.”

What was implied is that the way to recruit a new fan is to point at the grid and say that the men driving the cars are attractive. Whether that’s cute or condescending depends entirely on whether you’ve spent the last five years arguing with people who assume you only watch the sport for the drivers’ jawlines. I mean, I’m jealous of their jawlines, but it’s about the racing, people!

Why the Backlash Hit Harder Than Netflix Expected

The replies turned ugly pretty quickly.

Fans called it the worst representation of F1 they had ever seen, questioned who exactly had popularised the idea that drivers are heartthrobs, and complained that female fans had spent years being taken seriously only for Netflix to drag the conversation back to looks.

Another reply blamed the Americanisation of the sport for turning the paddock into a celebrity-influencer playground.

Red Bull’s social account, never shy about dunking on a target, joined in rather than letting Netflix’s awkward moment pass quietly. Coming from a team account rather than a fan account, it was definitely heard by fans who are currently pushing against F1’s new regulations.

Red Bull is one of the biggest subjects of Drive to Survive and one of the brands whose access keeps the docuseries running. A team in that position openly mocking its biggest media partner is a tell that the relationship between the grid and Netflix has cooled considerably.

It also fits in with what Max Verstappen has been saying for a while.

The Dutchman has spent years calling out Drive to Survive for fake storylines and most recently criticised the show for misrepresenting how he reacted to losing the 2024 Miami Grand Prix to Lando Norris.

At the Spanish Grand Prix, he was filmed pushing a boom microphone away while chatting with Norris and Gabriel Bortoleto in the paddock, specifically to keep production crews from picking up the conversation.

Red Bull’s X account is just doing publicly what its driver has been doing privately.

The Bigger Picture for Netflix

The timing is awkward for Netflix because the streamer has just leaned harder into F1, not less.

Apple and Netflix struck a content-swap deal around the new season of Drive to Survive, which premiered simultaneously on both platforms in February, and Netflix will non-exclusively broadcast the Canadian Grand Prix in May.

Apple is now the exclusive U.S. broadcaster for live races, which means Netflix’s role in F1 is changing from ‘the show that made the sport big in America‘ to one of several outlets fighting for attention.

Posting a clip that reduces the grid to a cheekbone parade is an odd way to argue you understand what the audience wants in 2026.

Reviews of the latest season of Drive to Survive have already accused the show of being interesting for casual viewers but disappointing to actual F1 fans, with Netflix praised for visuals and criticised for failing to represent the sport accurately.

A tone-deaf promo on top of that is the kind of unforced error that gives team social accounts a free shot, and Red Bull, predictably, took it.

The deeper issue is who Netflix thinks it is talking to. F1’s American audience has matured past the gateway-drug phase. The fans who showed up because of Drive to Survive five years ago are now arguing about tyre strategy and the new regulations, not posting thirst edits.

Treating them as if they still need to be sold the sport on aesthetics is what got the streamer mocked by one of its own subjects this week. When the team you’ve spent most of a decade building documentaries about is publicly rolling its eyes at your marketing, the marketing is the problem.