Max Verstappen is conspicuously absent from the new promotional poster for season 9 of Netflix’s Formula 1: Drive to Survive. The artwork features virtually the entire 2026 F1 grid, with 21 of the 22 race drivers represented, but the four-time world champion and Red Bull star is the sole omission.
Netflix has confirmed that Drive to Survive will return for a ninth season covering the ongoing 2026 Formula 1 World Championship. The promotional artwork released alongside the announcement features drivers from across the grid, making Max Verstappen’s absence particularly noticeable.
Max Verstappen is the only 2026 F1 driver missing from the poster
Red Bull itself is not missing from the image. Isack Hadjar appears in the composition, while Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad are also featured in Racing Bulls colours. Nor does the poster appear to be limited only to the championship’s most prominent names, as every other regular driver from the 2026 grid has been included.
That leaves Max Verstappen as the only notable absentee.
Netflix has offered no explanation for the decision. Crucially, however, the poster alone does not establish that Max Verstappen will be absent from season 9 itself. The next instalment of Drive to Survive will document the 2026 championship and is expected to arrive on Netflix in 2027, with Formula 1 promising even deeper behind-the-scenes access to the paddock.
Why Max Verstappen’s Drive to Survive absence stands out
The detail is difficult to separate from Max Verstappen’s previous relationship with Netflix. The Dutch driver has already been a major absentee from Drive to Survive in the past, having decided in 2021 not to cooperate directly with season 4 because he believed the series had manufactured rivalries that did not genuinely exist.
Netflix subsequently explained that Max Verstappen had chosen not to participate directly. As a result, in the season covering his intense 2021 championship battle with Lewis Hamilton, viewers could see him only through footage and interviews produced by other media outlets rather than through fresh interviews recorded specifically for the programme.
The relationship later appeared to improve. Max Verstappen returned to direct involvement from season 5 onwards, once again providing comments and interviews to the production. His renewed participation was explicitly highlighted when the series covering the 2022 Formula 1 season was presented.
For that reason, it would be premature to interpret his absence from the new poster as evidence of another boycott. There has been no announcement from either Netflix or Max Verstappen suggesting that he will refuse to participate in the ninth season.
Netflix omission revives questions over Verstappen relationship
Even so, a promotional image that manages to include 21 of the 22 drivers competing in Formula 1 in 2026 while leaving out Max Verstappen inevitably attracts attention, especially given his previous refusal to cooperate with Drive to Survive.
The omission also comes during a significant season for the Red Bull driver. Max Verstappen remains one of the championship’s most high-profile figures, even though the 2026 Formula 1 standings have developed very differently from the title-winning campaigns that established him at the front of the grid.
His home Dutch Grand Prix has also just marked another important moment in his season, with Max Verstappen having paid tribute to the Zandvoort fans ahead of Formula 1’s final Dutch GP.
Until Netflix or Max Verstappen explains the reason for his absence, it remains impossible to know exactly why he was left off the season 9 poster. What is clear is that, given the history between the driver and the series, being the only member of the 2026 grid omitted from the artwork is unlikely to pass unnoticed.
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