Senna x 6
12/23/2024
May 1, 2024 marked the 30th anniversary of Ayrton Senna's death in Imola. Senna was one of the best racing drivers of all time and will never be forgotten. Somewhat belatedly, which is probably partly due to Covid, Netflix is dedicating a documentary mini-series to him. Mini is relative, as the six episodes together comprise 6.3 hours of final footage. The series has been available to watch on Netflix since November 29, 2024.
It depicts Senna's racing career from go-karting to Formula 1 until his death. Filming is said to have cost over USD 170 million, an immense sum that made the mini-series the most expensive Brazilian series of all time.
Logically, Ayrton Senna, played by Brazilian Gabriel Leone, is at the center of the story. The entire plot revolves almost exclusively around him; other characters, although present, are somewhat neglected. The film was mainly shot in South America and partly also in Great Britain. As the world has changed since the 1980s and 1990s, computer technology (CGI) was used to turn Argentinian race courses into Imola, Monte Carlo or Suzuka, for example. The computers also produced the necessary weather effects, and they do so quite impressively.
The Argentinian car manufacturer Crespi Automotive recreated 22 cars from Senna's career and those of competitors for the series for the recordings, which were made in just a few months. Incidentally, the company's best-known road models in the seventies and eighties were the Tulieta GT and the Crespi Tulia GT with large-scale production technology.
Great importance was also attached to the acoustics and details, which is immediately apparent when watching the motorsport series.
Of course, not everything that is shown should be taken at face value. Some things are too "clean", others are dramaturgically exaggerated. Overall, however, the actors do a convincing job and the racing atmosphere is conveyed well. It's understandable that Alain Prost doesn't enjoy the series very much (in an interview he said "bullshit" about it), as some nuances are certainly missing and Senna was probably more involved in the dispute at the time than is shown. The fact that some historically documented details are also incorrectly or incompletely reproduced and that some things are missing that would have been considered important in terms of an objective documentary simply has to be accepted if you spend the six hours to watch the six episodes.
In my opinion, it's worth the time, because the mini-series is definitely entertaining and lets you immerse yourself in the F1 machinery of the eighties and nineties, which was very different from what we see today. And the production is reminiscent of Senna, who was certainly an exceptional figure in motor racing. Incidentally, the English rather than the German-language version of the series is recommended, as the dubbed voices "fit" a little better.
To get you in the mood, here is the "trailer":
