Netflix has revealed the first trailer for its new series based on the life of Ayrton Senna.
The six-part series produced by the Brazilian arm of the streaming giant was announced in 2020. It was originally due for broadcast during 2022 in eight parts.The story covers Senna’s arrival in Britain to compete in Formula Ford, and his subsequent rise into Formula 1. He won three world championships between 1988 and 1991, and lost the 1989 title to team mate and fierce rival Alain Prost in controversial circumstances.
The trailer shows Senna competing in the 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix, where he scored his first win on home ground despite his car becoming stuck in gear in the closing laps as rain began to fall. It shows flashbacks to earlier moments in his career including his time in go-karts, his shock second place for Toleman in the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix and breakthrough victory for Lotus the following year in Portugal.
The trailer was released on the day before the 30th anniversary of Senna’s death, which occured when he crashed while leading the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola.
Netflix Brazil filmed the series in two locations in Brazil: Sao Paulo, Senna’s home town where the Brazilian Grand Prix takes place at Interlagos, and Rio de Janeiro, which previously hosted the race at the now-demolished Jacarepagua circuit. They also filmed in Britain, Argentina and Uruguay. Senna is played by Gabriel Leone.
The series was created in conjunction with Senna’s family and their Senna Brands company, which manages to use of his identity and raises funds for the Ayrton Senna Institute. The institute was founded by Senna’s sister Viviane to provide opportunities for development to young Brazilians.
Senna was previously the subject of a 2010 film, also called Senna, which used original footage to tell the story of his life.
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Asd
30th April 2024, 16:16
I’m tired of the overglorification of Senna. I’d love to see a film about Alain Prost, who is the most underrated champion ever, while probably being the best of them all.
Nick T.
30th April 2024, 16:36
100%
Hopefully, at the very least, this miniseries is more down to earth rather than the nearly religious portrayal of Senna in “Senna.”
Dex
30th April 2024, 16:56
It’s Brazilian made, so it won’t be. Netflix is really milking this whole idea…
An Sionnach
30th April 2024, 18:09
It would be good to get the Prost story with Alain’s input.
I’d like to have seen Prost and Schumacher race in competitive machinery. Even when he retired, Prost was on it. If he’d stayed on just one more year, what would have happened? He qualified ahead of Senna in the karting event after the 1993 season. Ahead of both of them was… Johnny Herbert!
Nick T.
30th April 2024, 18:24
Hard to make sense of exhibition events:
Then again, after a pretty unimpressive rookie year with Renault, Heikki was basically matching Lewis for the first third to half of the season, but had atrocious luck with reliability and stuff. Then he seemed to totally lose the plot after that.
An Sionnach
30th April 2024, 20:04
I hear what you’re saying, but since he was better than Senna and Prost combined in that one minor exhibition event, Johnny Herbert is the greatest of all time!
An Sionnach
30th April 2024, 20:44
Of course, Schumacher only beat Herbert because he was cheating. All those Ferraris he won in were actually the 1994 car painted red and the 1995 car was secretly the 1994 car, too. It didn’t have the Renault V10 and actually had the Ford V8 to give it that performance advantage. Even though it hasn’t been proven, the 1994 car was definitely illegal, with the launch control that didn’t seem to work very well at Interlagos and Imola, and the legal traction control system that wouldn’t be very useful if the atmospheric pressure changed.
An Sionnach
30th April 2024, 20:47
All that said, Prost won the kart race. It wasn’t a straight race as each F1 driver was on a team with junior drivers and they managed to ensure that their team leaders’ qualifying performances were squandered. I can’t remember exactly what happened, but Prost won almost by default after various mishaps by the others or their machinery.
paulipedia (@paulipedia)
2nd May 2024, 20:47
I beat Johnny Herbert in a scalextrix race at the ford festival in the Kentagon a Brands Hatch
An Sionnach
2nd May 2024, 23:11
Great! Can you be the driver steward in Miami? If you dislike Fernando Alonso, the job is yours!
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
30th April 2024, 19:14
It’s natural, every known person gone too soon is idolized. Senna has the same ying-yang personality that is shared many legends of different sports. The good and the bad, the pretty and the ugly. Like Michael Jackson, Jordan, Schumacher, Agassi… Prost too.
He really is underrated. Just as great as Senna, i’d say. When you go back and see how he approached racing, and how good he was in any car, you realize what a driver he was. But he’s the evil of the truly picturesque story that is Senna’s racing life.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
1st May 2024, 7:44
I agree. There is very little made of Alain Prost’s career but at the time I always preferred him to Senna. He was as we all know, a four time champion and came close at least twice more.
Senna’s legacy relies to some extent on his tragic, early death of course. I recall seeing it on the day. But as a driver and person he had his faults.
Ambrogio Isgro
1st May 2024, 10:44
I’m not tired.
The only possibility of a film on Alain Prost is about his battles against Senna between 88 and 90. Something like Rush the Lauda vs Hunt movie.
Otherwise he is not the kind of subject that has a “cinema story” to appeal Hollywood, Netflix, Prime or similar investors (a movie about F1 costs).
About Prost being underrated I agree, about is 1993 remembers bot only the poor performances in Interlagos and Donington with mixed conditions, but that Damon Hill in the middle of the season lost three GPs in a row due to mechanical issues. So I think that already Alain was not at the top of his game.
DavidS (@davids)
1st May 2024, 11:37
Spot on.
A story about a man who competently and methodically goes motor racing before strategically retiring makes for one boring movie.
It doesn’t matter how deserving someone is of praise for their driving ability, if there is no drama in their life, it won’t make a good movie.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
1st May 2024, 12:59
Personally, I did not mean they should be making a drama about Prost’s life/career. More some kind of documentary about him with interviews by him and those involved in his career. I completely accept he was not such an exciting or ultimately tragic figure as Senna.
On another front, I doubt if Senna would have won any more WDCs in his career in 1994 or after. But that’s whole other story…
An Sionnach
2nd May 2024, 0:10
Interesting, and… I agree. It’s hard to say, though. Schumacher had him rattled in 1994 and, for the first time, it was his turn to have to find a way to win against the aggressive young gun – something that both Lauda and Prost succeeded in doing. Schumacher had plenty of aggression, but most of the time it was controlled and focused to be effective. He had attention to detail, dedication, many of the things that Prost was renowned for. Did Schumacher take the best of both men and combine it?
If Schumacher went to Ferrari in 1996 with Senna at Williams it would be hard to imagine him missing out on the title in 1996, though. It all depends on how Hill might have driven. How did he find the early 1994 Williams? Prost preferred it to the 1993 car. I’d like to know more about this. When it comes to Senna, I think the facts become clouded as whatever Senna said, even if it was barmy, is often taken as reality. It might sound silly to speculate on the eventual outcome of Hill versus Senna in 1994, but Hill did have the advantage of being the test driver.
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
1st May 2024, 12:06
This is just what I clicked on this article to say- Cheers!
Arrows98 (@arrows98)
1st May 2024, 2:53
A friend of mine apparently worked on the editing of this series, so I’m curious to see it…
However, from the trailer, I’m already kind disappointed that they appear to have changed Senna’s victory yell in Brazil ’91 to “Ah! I can’t believe it!” from the original portuguese that could be translated as… let’s say… “Ahhh!! Mother flower!!!!”
DavidS (@davids)
1st May 2024, 11:43
I hope they get the sound design right. The 2010 film was great in many respects, but the sound the cars were making often did not make sense.
I also hope they run a film grain effect over the top of this. A lot of the car scenes appear too clean and perfect, which highlights the fact that a lot of these shots are CGI. A lot of them look like a video game.
Andre
1st May 2024, 12:40
And the milking of Senna’s name and myth doesn’t seem to end.
Brian (@bealzbob)
1st May 2024, 14:18
I wonder how much of the story will touch on Tommy Byrne and Terry Fullerton :-)
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
1st May 2024, 18:56
Pleasing to see a McLaren with Marlboro on the side, rather than nothing (as if it never happened) or Save The Bees.
Ben-Hur (@ben-hur)
1st May 2024, 21:58
I’d prefer a bio of Luca de Boer. At least he was cleaner.
Ben-Hur (@ben-hur)
1st May 2024, 22:02
Badoer*