Claire Williams’ husband Mark Harris has called Williams Racing’s omission from Season 3 of ‘Drive to Survive’ a “disgrace” and “a total lack of respect” to F1 legend Sir Frank Williams.
Netflix premiered the third season of its popular docu-series dedicated to F1 on March 18, and the ten-episode saga covering the eventful 2020 campaign is already hitting new viewing records.
‘Drive to Survive’ producers covered a lot of ground in the series’ latest installment, with compelling and behind-the-scenes stories involving every team on the grid, except for Williams.
Yet the British outfit was at the forefront of headlines last summer when Sir Frank bowed out of the sport after an over 50-year presence following Williams’ sale to Dorilton Capital.
Also, George Russell’s sensational interim with Mercedes at Sakhir went undocumented by the ‘DtS’ crews, an omission that wasn’t lost on the British driver who tweeted a photo of himself and an unequivocal caption: “Getting to episode 10 and realising you’re not in Drive to Survive”.
But an angry Harris went a step further on Instagram, taking issue with the inexcusable oversight.
“It is impossible to hide the level of frustration and upset I feel around the latest season of Netflix’s Drive to Survive,” wrote the husband of former team boss Claire Williams.
“It is hard to believe that there was a more important story (other than covid-19) than the sale of one of the most historic, successful and treasured teams the sport has ever seen.
“Over 50 years in the sport, 16 world championships and the legendary team principal Sir Frank Williams and the family leaving a sport that they helped make what it is today, and barely a mention. What a disgrace,” added Harris.
“It feels like a total lack of respect to SFW, Claire and the team itself.”
While COVID-19 restrictions last year clearly complicated the task of production and filming crews who had to work within a team’s bubble, Harris says the stringent sanitary measures are no excuse to justify Williams’ absence from a single episode of ‘Drive to Survive’.
“It’s easy to say there wasn’t access granted,” he said. “No, access wasn’t granted to any film crew other than Williams’ own to the very private moments when Claire had to tell the team that the family were having to sell and leave the sport they love and breathe for.
“But an abundance of footage was made available by the team and all crews had access at all other times. What a shame it wasn’t used.”
