Hulu developing scripted Formula 1 series with the lovable Daniel Ricciardo
The Australian driver is one of the most consistently entertaining parts of F1 racing
A few days after Formula 1 renewed its deal with ESPN to continue airing races on the network and its ESPN+ streaming service (reportedly beating out a low-ball offer from Netflix, home of the F1: Drive To Survive documentary series), the world’s snootiest driving competition has teamed up with yet another American streaming service—though teammates generally hate each in F1, so hopefully they’re more like baseball teammates than F1 teammates.
This comes from The Hollywood Reporter, which says Hulu is working with F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo (the sport’s current best driver, if only in terms of personality and not… you know, winning races) to develop a “a half-hour scripted series that is set in the world of Formula 1 racing.” THR doesn’t specifically say if F1 itself is directly involved, either in terms of just licensing the brand or team names or in terms of this actually being an Official F1 Product (it will be prohibitively expensive if that’s the case, which is a joke about F1 merch), but we do know Ricciardo is an executive producer and that Lionsgate Television and Temple Hill will be the ones developing the project.
There’s no word on the actual plot or anything, including whether or not this will be a comedy or a drama (though Ricciardo has a reputation for being a lighthearted, breezy guy, so it would be weird if a TV show with his name on it turned out to be some kind of Snyder Cut take on Days Of Thunder).
If Ricciardo is taking pitches, though, maybe this could be about, say, a funny and talented Australian racer whose fame-hungry boss constantly ignores him in favor of a young hotshot driver with a short temper and a very mean dad, so he goes to a few new teams and is eventually paired with a teenage Twitch streamer who is a little full of himself (and nobody can tell if they actually get along or if they hate each other).
Whatever it’s about, Hulu is now joining the aforementioned Netflix and ESPN on the list of streaming services with F1 content, along with Apple TV+ (which is working with Brad Pitt and Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski to make a movie about F1 with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton producing). What will be the next streaming service to listen to its friends and get into Formula 1 racing? The Roku Channel? Just watch Drive To Survive, Roku. It’s fun.