Art of Gears
Fansided

Amazon Prime Car & Motorsport Shows Ranked

By David Castro

LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 15: Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson and James May attend a screening of 'The Grand Tour' season 3 held at The Brewery on January 15, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 15: Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson and James May attend a screening of 'The Grand Tour' season 3 held at The Brewery on January 15, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Dave J Hogan/Getty Images) /
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IV. “Grand Prix Driver”

A four-part documentary series about the McLaren Formula One team during the 2017 pre-season. In 2017 the squad had Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne, during his first season as a fulltime driver with the McLaren, piloting the new MCL32.

The 2017 pre-season was a nightmare for McLaren as they did their best to deal with the unreliable and under-powered Honda engine. Amazon does not pull any punches in “Grand Prix Driver” and accurately portrays the tumultuous pre-season testing & development.

Michael Douglas is the narrator and does a great job of providing the right tone and pace for the action. His work on “Grand Prix Driver” may have surpassed his narration of the 1999 documentary “One Day in September”.

In the 2017 season McLaren finished second-to-last in the Constructors’ Championship with 30-points. Alonso paced the team with 17-points (15th in the Drivers’ Championship) and Vandoorne finished 16th in the Drivers’ Championship with 13-points.

The pre-season foreshadowed the rest of the 2017 season and Amazon was accurate in its portrayal of McLaren. Accuracy is the most important facet of a documentary and “Grand Prix Driver” provides that.

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