Alfa Romeo's Formula 1 Team Made its Own Mini Drive to Survive

Just about everyone wants to hop on on the Drive to Survive bandwagon these days — including some of the teams that are already competing in Formula 1 and therefore are also featured in the Netflix docuseries. Yep: Alfa Romeo is one of them, releasing a series of short documentaries on YouTube as part of a series called Beyond the Visible, and it’s actually pretty damn good.

Beyond the Visible aims to go where DTS doesn’t by focusing on the 500 crew members who design, build, prep, and maintain the team’s race cars. As the press release puts it:

“Before We Hit the Ground,” the series’ opening episode, reveals the tough process of approaching the races. The weeks leading up to the start of the new season are indeed a crucial phase, experienced with total intensity and concentration. These are days of strong emotions, adrenaline-pumping anticipation, mental and physical preparation. But none of this transpires externally. That is why Alfa Romeo offers “beyond the visible,” reporting everything that precedes the highly anticipated inaugural race of the world championship. During the weeks leading up to the event, motivation, passion and focus become the key to pursuing one common goal: speed.

Protagonists of the first episode are the managers of a team who work hard to define strategies and goals aimed at getting the most out of the group, continuing motivation at the highest level.

You can watch the first episode here.

Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN | Beyond the visible | Episode 1 | Before we hit the ground

Many of the DTS-style “behind the scenes” documentaries we’ve seen from other series or teams haven’t really compared with the original product for a variety of reasons, but Beyond the Visible comes close. Its high production quality and first-person narration sets it apart from the rest (even though there’s a filter casting a weird hue over everything, giving off both Instagram filter and horror movie vibes, and a heavy emphasis on brands and heritage). Beyond the Visible feels really artsy, which is nice.

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The episodes are also pretty short — this first one clocks in at just under nine minutes — so you can sneak in a peep at your desk while your boss isn’t watching. You have my permission.