Lights out and away we go (again). The fight for the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship is arguably one of the sport’s most explosive yet — and over 10 episodes of Drive to Survive Season 4, viewers get an intimate, behind-the-scenes look at every twist and turn. It’s a pivotal moment in F1, as Red Bull threatens Mercedes’ seven-year run of consecutive championship wins. The docuseries also covers fan favorite Daniel Ricciardo’s struggles at McLaren, Haas’ internal conflicts and so much more. Here’s your guide to all the teams and competitors racing to the finish.

Team Mercedes 

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Toto Wolff

When Mercedes starts the season off on the back foot during pre-season testing, the paddock realizes that this may be the year that their dominance takes a hit. Toto Wolff spends Season 4 managing the pressure of this possibility. As the battle for the championship heats up, the off-track sniping rises to a fever pitch, and Wolff looks ahead to optimize next year’s driver pairing.

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Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton continues to break records, becoming the first driver to achieve 100 pole positions and 100 race wins. However, the seven-time world champion’s main focus is scoring his eighth title, which would break the record for the most World Drivers’ Championship wins of all time. With each passing race, Hamilton and Max Verstappen’s bid for the title grows more intense, with a number of disastrous on-track incidents that only make both men more determined to come out on top.

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Valtteri Bottas

In his fifth year at Mercedes, Valtteri Bottas continues to drive alongside Lewis Hamilton, boosting the team’s chances at clinching the World Constructors’ Championship. With his contract up for renewal at the end of the year, however, the Finnish driver knows that if he wants to keep his Mercedes seat, he has to remain at the top of his game.

Team McLaren

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Zak Brown

With new financial backers helping to steady McLaren’s way forward, Zak Brown has his sights set on beating Ferrari and finishing third in the World Constructors’ Championship. “The difference between a third and a fourth [place finish] can ultimately mean tens of millions of dollars,” he explains. In order to achieve that goal, both McLaren drivers need to be scoring as many points as possible in as many races as possible — which Brown hopes will be possible with the combined talents of Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo.

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Daniel Ricciardo

After leaving Red Bull to join Renault during Formula 1: Drive to Survive Season 1, Daniel Ricciardo makes the unexpected move of jumping ship to another team once again in Season 3. As a driver for McLaren, the Australian showboat — a seven-time Grand Prix winner — is expected to score big points for his new team. “By the end of this season, I do predict an array of podiums,” he says in Season 4, Episode 2. Unfortunately, Ricciardo struggles to find his footing on track, surprising the paddock and putting McLaren’s third-place finish at risk.

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Lando Norris

In his third year at McLaren, Norris is paired with Daniel Ricciardo after Carlos Sainz heads to Ferrari. His new teammate’s arrival comes with a lot of speculation and great expectations, all of which are turned on their head when Norris ends up regularly outperforming Ricciardo.

Team Red Bull

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Christian Horner

After seven consecutive years of Mercedes dominance, Christian Horner enters the 2021 Formula 1 season on a mission. In his quest to secure the World Drivers’ Championship for Max Verstappen and the World Constructors’ Championship for the team, he seizes every opportunity afforded by Mercedes’ fumbles and failures to secure each point possible. Throughout Season 4, he also provides color commentary throughout on the trials and tribulations of Formula 1’s other major players in typical Horner fashion — razor-sharp and droll.

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Sergio Pérez

In his first season with Red Bull, Sergio Pérez is seen getting acclimated to his new surroundings, but as teammate Max Verstappen battles Lewis Hamilton for the world championship, Pérez takes on a supporting role to bring his team to the top of the standings.

Not featured this season

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Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen chose not to participate in Season 4, which means that the only insight viewers get into the Belgian-Dutch driver’s blockbuster season appears through clips of pre- and post-race interviews with other outlets. However, he’ll be back to provide commentary in Season 5.

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Alex Albon

Alex Albon, who becomes Pierre Gasly’s mid-season replacement on the Red Bull team in Season 2 and flounders throughout Season 3, loses his seat to Sergio Pérez. In 2021, he serves as a Red Bull test and reserve driver.

Team Williams

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Jost Capito

After the departure of deputy team principal Claire Williams, Jost Capito steps into the top spot at Williams. As the team at the bottom of the championship standings, Capito’s goal is to bring Williams back to some semblance of its former glory. With his background in the World Rally Championship, Capito brings a can-do attitude and incisive leadership to a team in serious need of a morale boost.

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George Russell

In his third year at Williams, with the end of his contract looming, Williams’ continued difficulties make George Russell’s future with the team uncertain. As the British driver manages to wring impressive results out of a less-than-stellar car, his prospects for the next season begin to expand and he sets his sights on a potential future at Mercedes.

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Nicholas Latifi

In his second year at Williams, Canadian driver Nicholas Latifi discusses his solid working relationship with George Russell, as the two drivers work with Jost Capito to turn the team’s trajectory around.

Team Alpine

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Laurent Rossi

Formerly known as Renault, Alpine sees a lot of changes in its 2021 season. Beyond the team’s name change, they lose driver Ricciardo and gain Fernando Alonso. Cyril Abiteboul, Renault’s former managing director, departs the company, and Laurent Rossi steps up as CEO, guiding the team through these changes as they attempt to challenge AlphaTauri for fifth place in the World Constructors’ Championship.

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Esteban Ocon

After losing his seat with Force India and leaving Formula 1 at the end of Season 1, Esteban Ocon’s future as a driver was up in the air. Cyril Abiteboul brought him back to the paddocks to drive for Renault, but with Abiteboul’s departure and Alonso’s arrival, Ocon finds himself eager to prove that he deserves his spot.

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Fernando Alonso

After a year away from Formula 1, two-time world champion Fernando Alonso makes his return to the sport driving for Alpine. With his several years of experience, he hopes to serve as a source of guidance for his younger teammate.

Team AlphaTauri

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Franz Tost

As AlphaTauri’s team principal since 2005, Franz Tost has seen his share of rookie drivers. In Season 4, he focuses on Yuki Tsunoda, whose frequent crashes and explosive temper threaten to harm the team’s standing in the World Constructors’ Championship.

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Yuki Tsunoda

“The beginning of the season was really bad,” Yuki Tsunoda says with his signature candor. The Japanese rookie driver struggles in his first outings with AlphaTauri, and Franz Tost sends him to “finishing school,” meaning moving from Milton Keynes to Faenza to become a better competitor — physically and mentally.  

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Pierre Gasly

With the arrival of new teammate Yuki Tsunoda, Pierre Gasly becomes the elder statesman of AlphaTauri.

Team Haas

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Guenther Steiner

The ever-beleaguered leader of the Formula 1’s sole American team enters Season 4 with the help of Russian businessman Dmitry Mazepin, who keeps Haas afloat with an infusion of cash. Of course, Mazepin’s financial backing allows him to exercise outsize influence on the team, whose cars sport a Russian flag colorway — although Steiner argues that it could be seen as an American one — and the team gets a Russian rookie driver, too, in the form of Mazepin’s son, Nikita. The season turns out to be a rocky one, as Steiner struggles to manage expectations and the team’s balance sheet, with all his trademark humor and blunt (expletive-laden) charm.

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Mick Schumacher

As the son of seven-time world champion F1 driver Michael Schumacher, Mick Schumacher’s future in the sport seems like a foregone conclusion. The Formula 2 champion makes his Formula 1 debut alongside Nikita Mazepin, making it a double-rookie season for Haas.

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Nikita Mazepin

As Nikita Mazepin’s rookie season, his crashes, spins and back-of-grid starts and finishes fall far short of expectations, leading the driver and his father to believe that he’s been saddled with a subpar car. Seeing his teammate, Mick Schumacher, consistently outperform him only adds to their conviction, which threatens the future of the entire team. 

Not featured this season

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Kevin Magnussen

Gone from Haas and the show are both of last season’s Haas drivers, including Kevin Magnussen, who was released after four years with the team. 

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Romain Grosjean

Romain Grosjean, who miraculously walked away from a fiery accident in Season 3, left Haas and Formula 1 to spend time with family. He went on to drive in the IndyCar Series.

Team Ferrari

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Charles Leclerc

In his third year at Ferrari, Charles’ hopes of winning a world championship with his dream team fall by the wayside as Mercedes and Red Bull fight each other for first place.

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Carlos Sainz

After leaving McLaren, newly signed Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz gets acquainted with new teammate Leclerc, while helping the team strive for third place in the constructors’ championship.

Not featured this season

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Sebastian Vettel

Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel left Ferrari after six years to join the rebranded Racing Point run by Lawrence Stroll, which became Aston Martin in 2021.