‘F1: The Academy’ (2025) Netflix Series Review - A Fresh Lap in Motorsports Storytelling

"F1: The Academy," Netflix’s newest sports docuseries, is a full-speed, throttle-wide-open deep dive into the lesser-seen side of motorsports, the grit, growth, and grind of women pushing the limits on the track and beyond. If “Drive to Survive” gave viewers a front-row seat to the elite world of F1, this series takes you behind the curtain of the next generation trying to break through it, often while carrying twice the weight.

The show kicks off by placing us right in the heart of the 2024 F1 Academy season. Seven episodes focus on a mix of rising talent from across the globe, all vying not just for podiums, but for long-term recognition in an industry historically tilted against them. These aren't just drivers trying to win races, they're attempting to rewrite the expectations placed on them.

Each episode follows a few core racers, and the show smartly doesn't try to overstuff the narrative. You get to know the people under the helmets, their motivations, fears, and frustrations. The spotlight isn’t just on who takes the checkered flag; it’s on the sweat behind the scenes, the sponsors that don’t call back, the injuries and the comeback drives, the crushing self-doubt, and the rare, glorious moments of triumph. One racer might be tackling the pressure of proving she deserves her place in the series, while another wrestles with keeping up in a new car on unfamiliar circuits.
 
 
The series shows just how international this field has become. One moment you're watching test laps in Valencia, the next you're in a tense pre-race meeting in Shanghai. The show knows better than to tell us “racing is hard.” It shows us, through missed braking points, team radio frustrations, and the endless adjustments drivers make, lap after lap, just to stay competitive.

There’s an incredible sense of balance throughout. The series could’ve leaned heavily into sentimentality or framed everything as an underdog story, but it doesn’t. It doesn’t paint the racers as saints or superheroes either. They're portrayed as young women who get tired, snap at their engineers, and second-guess themselves. But they also show up every race weekend, helmets on, eyes forward, completely unflinching. The docuseries manages to capture the individualism of each racer without losing the unified narrative that ties them all together.

What really works is the restraint the creators show in editing. You never feel manipulated into rooting for someone. There's no intrusive music score swelling to tell you when to be inspired. You’re given space to form your own impressions, and that choice gives the emotional beats more impact. The cinematography doesn’t try to be overly slick. It just lets the track, the drivers, and the machines do the talking. The onboard cameras, pitlane angles, and post-race moments aren’t flashy, but they’re authentic—and that’s the hook.

That authenticity runs through the series like a main artery. There’s a genuine attempt here to portray the complexity of trying to break into motorsports as a woman without reducing it to a marketing slogan. One of the show's strengths is how it captures the awkward in-between space many of the racers are stuck in not quite seen as rookies, not yet embraced as contenders. They’re expected to be grateful for the opportunity and also expected to win. The contradiction isn’t stated out loud, but you can feel it in every frame.

Still, it’s not a perfect series. For a show focused on racing, there’s surprisingly little emphasis on the technical details. Occasionally, you’re left wanting a deeper explanation of why a setup change tanks a driver’s performance. What actually goes into building a race strategy? The show chooses intimacy over insight, which mostly works, but leaves technically curious viewers slightly underserved.

And though the series gestures at systemic issues, sponsorship inequity, gender bias, and the pathway to F1, it tends to leave those conversations at the surface. There’s an opportunity to dig a little deeper, to show just how many barriers exist beyond the paddock. Instead, we get passing mentions and quick cuts. For a show aiming to be more than just another sports doc, that feels like a slightly missed opportunity.

But let’s be real: those are nitpicks in the grand scheme. The series never claims to be a journalistic exposé. It knows its strength lies in human connection, and in that, it delivers. You’ll walk away from the final episode remembering specific faces, comments from coaches, awkward airport arrivals, and quiet, reflective rides back to the team hotel. It captures a slice of life that most people will never experience, trying to win, grow, and prove yourself all at once, under a thousand eyes.

If nothing else, “F1: The Academy” will make you care about who’s coming up the ranks next. You’ll finish the series with drivers to root for and, maybe more importantly, drivers you respect. It subtly makes you aware of how much work remains to be done in motorsport, without hitting you over the head with it.

This is not just a documentary about racing. It’s about ambition, resilience, and the weird, beautiful in-between phase of chasing something enormous without knowing if you'll ever actually catch it. It’s charming, sharp, and quietly powerful. And like its subjects, it doesn’t shout to be taken seriously, it simply earns it.

Watch it if you’re tired of the over-produced glitz of mainstream sports docs and want something that breathes. Watch it if you’ve ever tried to carve a space where none existed. But most of all, watch it if you love a good story, well told, with rubber on the tarmac and dreams bigger than engine size.

Final Score- [9/10]
Reviewed by - Anjali Sharma
Follow @AnjaliS54769166 on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times