Netflix’s new six-part series reviewed · RaceFans

The 2010 film documentary on the life of three-times Formula 1 world champion Ayrton Senna made an impression on one of the actors who stars in a new dramatisation of his life.

“It was wall-to-wall Brazilians in that cinema,” recalled Kaya Scodelario in a recent interview. “They were crying and shouting at the screen every time [Alain] Prost came up. It was the most emotional, passionate cinema experience of my life.”

The special place Senna occupies in the hearts of many F1 fans, his native Brazilians especially, can hardly be understated. Now, just past the 30-year anniversary of his death, Netflix is seeking to recreate the success of Asif Kapadia’s 2010 movie, right down to the title, albeit in a six-part scripted series.

This is a novel undertaking in one obvious respect. The arrival of Senna in 2010 prompted a rush of motorsport documentaries from ‘1: Life on the Limit’ to Netflix’s hit series ‘Drive to Survive’. But television producers have largely steered clear of attempting to recreate races, leaving that to the makers of films such as ‘Rush’ and ‘Ford vs Ferrari’ (aka ‘Le Mans 66’).

You can’t fault Netflix’s ambition in trying to recreate not only most of Senna’s F1 cars but several of those he raced before he became a grand prix driver. It’s a pity the same breadth of venues wasn’t available to them – even those without a deep knowledge of Britain’s junior motorsport series in the eighties will spot all the action takes place at the same venue.

The programme makers have clearly gone to great lengths to recreate the cars, overalls and other period details. They have also worked hard to recreate famous key incidents faithfully, such as Senna’s collisions with Prost or the barrier at Portier in Monaco.

The special effects are not quite up to ‘Rush’ standards, and that bar is likely to rise even higher when the official ‘F1’ film appears next year. But when ‘Senna’s modern footage is spliced with original video from period the gulf in quality between the two can’t help but distract the eye.

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But for all the effort lavished on the race footage, that is arguably not the point of the series. “Senna”, made with the blessing of his family, is intended to “reveal his personality and personal relationships,” say Netflix. We therefore see more of the other Sennas, his romantic…