Netflix’s “Senna” came out on Friday November 29. The 6-episode miniseries was hotly anticipated by Formula 1 fans as it covered the life and career of the legendary Ayrton Senna.

The miniseries begins with his early days in karting and moving to England to race in Formula Ford, an entry level feeder series for Formula 1. The focus is split between his exploits on the track and his relationship with his then girlfriend Lillian. Lillian follows Senna to England and the couple get married. Senna promised to race for a year and then return home to Brazil to work at his father’s company. Senna has success in Formula Ford and has offers to move up the feeder series ladder but keeps his promise and returns home.

However, the racing bug does not leave him, and he returns to England after receiving an offer to race in British Formula 3. This costs him his marriage, but he has success in Formula 3 and shows his determination and confidence. He dominates the first half of the season but ends up in a close battle with Martin Brundle after Brundle’s team gains an engine advantage. Senna’s cause is damaged by his all or nothing style which causes his equipment to fail and Senna to walk away with zero points in several races. Ultimately Senna holds on and wins the 1983 British F3 title.

Formula 1 team Lotus principal Peter Warr is interested in hiring Senna to drive for Lotus but the team’s British sponsor wants a British driver (Nigel Mansell) instead. Senna has offers to be a test driver from several teams, including McLaren, but signs with backmarker Toleman to get a full-time race drive in Formula 1.

Not much time is spent on his one season at Toleman when Senna did not win a race but had three podiums en route to finishing 9^th in the standings. The highlight of Senna’s Toleman stint in the miniseries, rightfully so, is the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix. In heavy rain Senna storms through the field and is rapidly closing on race leader Alain Prost. He looks destined to get his first career win, but FIA president Jean-Marie Balestre controversially halts the race. Many people believe Balestre, a Frenchman, did so to help fellow countryman Prost. This is not the last of Balestre in the F1 story as he is a big villain in the miniseries. (Ironically, Prost wound up losing the championship because of the race stopping. Since the race did not go full distance drivers got half points so Prost scored 4.5 for winning. Had the race concluded Prost would have gotten 6 points for second place and won the championship over teammate Niki Lauda).

Senna moved to Lotus for the 1985 season. Lotus was no longer the championship team of its heyday but finished 3^rd in the constructor standings in 1984 (Toleman was 7^th) so it was an upgrade. The miniseries does not spend much time on Senna’s three seasons at Lotus. They cover his first win but not much else. Senna won 6 races, 16 poles, and had 24 podiums in 48 races at Lotus. The Brazilian finished 4^th, 4^th, and 3^rd in the final standings in 85’, 86’, and 87’ but never seriously threatened for a championship. As a result Senna leaves for reigning champs McLaren-Honda before the 1988 season.

Now we get to the most exciting part of the Senna story: Senna versus Prost, then a two-time champion, as teammates at McLaren. In 1988 McLaren won 15 of 16 races with Senna accounting for 8 of those wins (only Senna crashing while lapping a car prevented a full season sweep). The story focuses on Senna’s pursuit of his first championship which started out with a bang as he won 7 of the first 11 races. However, he followed that with a 10^th, 6^th, and 4^th as Prost closed in heading into the penultimate race in Japan. Senna won that race to seal the title. (Note: in 1988 F1 had a scoring system where only the results from a driver’s best 11 races counted. Prost actually scored more points over the full season than Senna, although Senna was the faster of the two.)

In 1989 McLaren-Honda remained dominant. 1989 is when the relationship between Senna and Prost deteriorated. This began with a dispute at Imola where the drivers had agreed they would not race before turn 3 at the start. There was no issue at the start but there was a restart after which Senna overtook Prost. Senna argued the agreement did not apply to the restart; Prost argued a restart functionally is the same as a start. Senna, at the behest of McLaren team principal Ron Dennis, made amends with Prost internally only to have Prost give an interview weeks later making that public. Needless to say, Senna was incensed and the relationship never recovered, and Prost signed with Ferrari a few months later.

The most memorable clash occurred at the Japanese Grand Prix, the penultimate race. Both drivers were battling for the championship, but this time Prost was ahead. The two collided and Prost left his car. Senna, who needed to win to keep his title hopes alive, had track personnel push his car back on the track. He then had to pit to fix his damaged front wing. He returned 5 seconds behind the race leader with only 4-5 laps left but Senna made the gap up and took the checkered flag. However, while Senna went back on track Prost made a bee line to the FIA president’s office. Balestre, who earlier had warned McLaren not to favor Senna over the departing Prost (which isn’t in the miniseries), disqualified Senna for cutting the chicane. This was absurd as the alternative was Senna reversing into traffic which would have been much more dangerous. Moreover, Senna had not gained an advantage by crashing onto and stalling on the chicane. This gave Prost his third world title.

In their two seasons together, Senna won 14 races and Prost 11. Senna had a 26-4 edge in poles. Both won a championship. Prost outscored Senna both years but Senna was faster and ahead of Prost more often than not in the races both finished.

In 1990 Prost was out and Gerhard Berger in as Senna’s teammate. Berger, a close friend of Senna’s, has a minor role in the miniseries. The title again went down to Japan, the penultimate race again. In 1990 it was Senna going into the race with the lead. The drama began before the race, though. The pole position was on the “dirty” side of the track, meaning the slower starting side. Senna spoke with the track marshals to have the grid reversed so the pole sitter was not disadvantaged. They agreed. Senna promptly won the pole. However, Balestre intervened and put the pole sitter on the dirty side. Senna was outraged over this, especially in the light of what happened in 1989. He resolved that if Prost was ahead going into the first corner neither would finish and promptly turned into Prost causing both cars to fail to finish—which gave Senna his second world driver’s championship.

In 1991 the miniseries focuses on Senna’s dramatic first win in Brazil. It also spends a lot of time on his relationship with Xuxa, a Brazilian TV show host and singer. Ultimately the relationship falters due to Senna being in Europe for most of the year and Xuxa having her own touring schedule. Senna wins his third and final title in 1991.

There is not much about the 1992 and 1993 seasons in the miniseries. It would have been good to include how Senna battled against Williams-Renault in inferior machinery, including customer Ford engines for part of 1993 after Honda withdrew, in an era where the customer engine was a spec or two behind. Perhaps Senna’s most legendary moment came was Donington 1993 but this was not in the series. McLaren team principal Ron Dennis talks to Senna and says “the best driver wants the best car” but that is about all the miniseries has regarding his switch from McLaren to Williams.

They nod a bit to Senna considering leaving F1 but don’t go too far into that.

The final episode covers his brief time at Williams and mostly Imola 1994. They have a poignant scene where Dr. Sid Watkins asks Senna to retire after the death of Roland Ratzenberger. The middle of the episode shows the mourning in Brazil at Senna’s tragic passing at age 34 after a crash at Imola. Netflix does not end on this somber note, though. They have an inspirational message by Senna, career and life highlights in a reel set to Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best” (including Senna at a Turner concert) and note the great work the Senna Foundation has done for Brazilian children.

Actresses & Actors

Brazilian actor Gabriel Leone plays Senna. I thought he did a great job. He had a tough task but filled Senna’s shoes well and seemed at times to almost be Senna.

The second most important player in the movie is British actress Kaya Scodelario who plays “Laura.” Laura is a journalist whose career tracks Senna’s from Formula Ford all the way to Imola 1994. She is a fictional character but a useful one as she is a means to get insight into Senna’s thoughts and to introduce how Senna was perceived by others at points (e.g., prejudice against Latin Americans in 1980s Britain and concerns about Senna’s aggressive driving style in F1). They were not friends but long-time colleagues who largely were cordial despite Laura angering Senna at times with her coverage.

The third character of note is French actor Matt Mella who plays Alain Prost. He does a good job and, like Leone, channels his character well.

Portrayal of Alain Prost

Prost was portrayed as the bad guy in the 2010 documentary Senna which also is available on Netflix. He comes off better in the Senna vs. Prost book by Malcolm Folley with some arguing the book favors Prost.  How he would be portrayed in the miniseries was a big question I had going in. To some extent Prost coming off badly is inevitable in anything where Senna is the hero but there is a lot of runway on which to land. I thought Prost came off as conniving, relying on the FIA to bail him out and wasn’t given proper credit as a great driver in his own right. They could have done more to build Prost up, give him more credit, and then portray him as having been beaten (narrowly) by Senna.

Still, Prost is humanized, and the miniseries ends with Prost and Senna having an amicable chat and Senna giving Prost his regards while being in the car for French TV at Imola 94’. So, I think Prost comes off better here than he did in the documentary. The touching moment in Prost’s last race where Senna asks Prost to join him on the top step of the podium is missing but as noted earlier 1992 and 1993 largely were glossed over.

Michael Schumacher

I also wondered how Schumacher would be portrayed. Surprisingly Schumacher does not appear other than being alongside Senna on the grid at Imola. He is mentioned a few times in 1994 and the Senna suspicion that Schumacher’s Benetton was running traction control, which was banned prior to the 1994 season, was featured. That is not a good look for Schumacher but is a fair hit as part of the story as Senna believed that and the context for 1994 was Senna trying to corral a poorly handling car and stay ahead of the rising young lion Schumacher in what he thought was an illegal car (background here).

Brazil and Senna

Senna’s connection to Brazil and Brazilians fans is covered, especially towards the end of the miniseries. He was moved by the poverty he saw in Brazil and created the Ayrton Senna Institute which has helped 36 million Brazilian children to date (Alain Prost is on the foundation’s board, which the documentary notes but not the miniseries).

Other Sources on Senna

I would supplement the miniseries with the documentary, which provides a more in-depth account of his career and shows more about Senna as an individual. The documentary is more serious but less entertaining than the miniseries. I also recommend the Senna vs. Prost book that provides more depth into Senna’s career as well as Prost’s. The book centers on the height of their rivalry from 1988-1990 but covers their rise as well as the later years of their careers as well.

Was Ayrton Senna the Greatest F1 Driver?

You can read my thoughts on this here. The short version is Senna probably is the best and fastest F1 driver ever, but it is hard to me to say he is the greatest because he lacks longevity and therefore the career statistics of Lewis Hamilton and Schumacher due to his career being cut short.

Conclusion

Despite not being perfect, Netflix did a great job and covered a lot of ground in under 6 hours. I recommend that all racing fans watch the series.