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30 years after the fatal accident of three-time Formula 1 world champion Ayrton Senna, Netflix is releasing a 6-part drama series starring the exceptional driver.
Senna will be available on Netflix from November 29th. The series tells the story of the Brazilian racing driver (Gabriel Leone) from his childhood in his father Milton da Silva’s (Marco Ricca) car repair shop in São Paulo to his karting days, which took him to Estoril, Portugal in 1979, where he would go on and achieve his first victory in F1 seven years later, his three world championship titles in the pinnacle of motorsports, right up to his tragic fatal accident in Imola, Italy in May 1994. The ambitious Senna – or Beco, as he is called by his inner circle – gives everything for success in motorsports, whether on or off the track. This would lead him to incredible success eventually, but it was also a path of trial and tribulation.
His family recognized his talent behind the wheel early on and so his father built him a go-kart powered by a lawnmower engine. Just a year after moving to Europe to get into faster cars, he almost won the 1979 Karting World Championship, but lost it due to an armchair decision to his rival Peter Koene, who gathered the same number of points. Senna would later cite the time he spent there with his teammate Terry Fullerton (Rob Compton) as his favorite memory in motorsports – “pure racing”. In Formula Ford, Senna finally wins his first European title in Norfolk, England, defeating his rival Enrique “Quique” Mansilla (Nahuel Monasterio). He’s already climbing the next step on the racing class ladder and competing in Formula 3 against Martin Brundle (Charlie Hamblett), who is nowadays known as a long-time Formula 1 commentator, in the Jordan. His marriage to Lilian de Vasconcelos Souza (Alice Wegmann) fails because of Senna’s ambitious career plans.
In Formula 1, Senna makes his debut with the underdog team Toleman and starts using his mother Neyde Senna’s name (Susana Ribeiro) for the first time; previously he was always known as da Silva. Although he had an agreement with Lotus, the team would only sign him for the next season. It’s during that time he meets Laura Harrison (Kaya Scodelario), a fictional reporter who repeatedly confronts Senna with the headlines of the respective era. Iconic moments from Senna’s racing career are recreated, such as Senna crossing the finish line next to Alain Prost (Matt Mella) when the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix was canceled due to difficult weather conditions and the speedy Senna was deprived of another victory. The rivalry between Senna and Prost is vital to the show. After Senna wins his first world championship title in a McLaren, a tough battle for supremacy in Formula 1 breaks out, culminating in a crash between the two teammates during the 1989 Japanese Grand Prix and Senna’s disqualification because he took the run-off zone in the chicane, and Prost’s third title.
While the history-making drivers’ briefing the following year, which Senna leaves in frustration, is recreated almost one-to-one, the series puts FIA President Jean-Marie Balestre’s (Arnaud Viard) iconic quote in the briefing of the 1991 German Grand Prix “The best decision is my decision” elsewhere. Senna enters into a relationship with singer and TV host Maria “Xuxa” da Graça Meneghel (Pâmela Tomé) and the striking appearance of the two in a Christmas show for children is also authentically recreated. Senna’s memorable first win at his home Grand Prix in Interlagos in 1991 is a mixed bag since had to be freed from his McLaren and helped to lift the trophy due to muscle cramps.
The hour-long episodes include ten minutes of credits due to the show’s heavy usage of CGI in the depiction of races. The mostly computer-generated scenes have a clean look and could have come straight out of a video game. In combination with the close-ups of the actors, real race replays and the excellent editing, the short race sequences work quite well, though the very shaky new footage may not be to everyone’s liking. Every now and then you are reminded that you are watching a fictional story, for example when McLaren team boss Ron Dennis (Patrick Kennedy) lends a hand during a pit stop. The portrayal of three-time world champion Niki Lauda (Johannes Heinrichs) and F1 Safety and Medical Delegate Sid Watkins (Tom Mannion) is exceptionally authentic. We spend a lot of time with Senna at McLaren, but we see little of his two difficult seasons at Williams due to changes in the regulations.
While the series makes major leaps in time in the first five episodes, the final episode covers the race weekend in Imola in 1994, during which Rubens Barrichello (João Maestri) had a serious accident in free practice and Roland Ratzenberger (Lucca Messer) suffered a fatal crash in qualifying. To this day it remains incomprehensible why the San Marino Grand Prix was not canceled, dramatically not even in response to Senna’s direct request to FIA President Max Mosley. The series closes with the real Ayrton Senna’s urgent appeal to follow your dreams with dedication and perseverance, no matter what background you come from, while, appropriately, Tina Turner’s The Best is played. In addition, over the course of the series we listen to the best of the 70s and 80s from Depeche Mode, David Bowie, Blondie, Snap!, Motörhead, Tears for Fears and Ram Jam. We would recommend watching the series in the original language (Portuguese and English), especially to enjoy the enthusiastic commentary from Galvão Bueno (Gabriel Louchard) while Senna’s faithful victory anthem is played.
Final thoughts
Senna is a vivid portrait of the three-time Formula 1 world champion, in which all important career stages are authentically depicted and we get rare insights into his private life. The depiction of the legendary rivalry between Senna and Prost is reminiscent of the fantastic film Rush, in which Hunt and Lauda battle each other. Both are also present in Senna, alongside a large number of motorsport greats who are almost entirely a spitting image of their real-life role counterparts. Gabriel Leone’s likeness may only resemble Senna in a few moments, but his performance is simply fantastic. The series looks really authentic due to the original cars, clothing, locations and footage and it’s edited in a way that keeps it interesting. If you’re a F1 fan, go watch this show. The drama should keep you glued to the screen regardless of your affinity to motorsports.
Netflix provided us with the series and the pictures.
