Team-BHP - Netflix to air series on Ayrton Senna

Back in 2020, Netflix announced that they were working on a new docuseries based on F1 legend & three-time World Champion Ayrton Senna. Now, almost 3-years later, the docuseries seems to be finally getting underway.

Netflix to air series on Ayrton Senna | Teaser released-ayrtonsenna.jpeg

The Netflix miniseries will be called 'Senna' and will consist of 6 episodes, each focusing on various personal relationships, triumphs, disappointments, joys & sorrows of the 3-time F1 champion. The miniseries is said to start from Ayrton's early motorsport days when he moved to England to participate in Ford Formula and conclude with his tragic accident at Imola, Italy.

The miniseries will be produced by Gullane, with active participation from the driver's family. The miniseries has also gained unprecedented access to showcase the house where Senna grew up. Playing the part of Ayrton Senna will be Brazilian actor Gabriel Leone.

The docuseries was initially set to come out by the end of 2022. However, Netflix is yet to announce its revised timeline. Having said that, with the lead actor just being announced, a mid-2024 release date seems most likely.

Link to Team-BHP news

Pretty sure Netflix will over exaggerate every aspect of the Prost-Senna rivalry and Senna's infamous clashes with Jean Marie Balestre. I really hope they tune it down a bit from their usual stuff.

Netflix's 'Drive to Survive', though provided in depth look into the sport even to the non-F1 fans was not appealing to me (only watched S1 and gave up). There is far better content available on YouTube, especially like 'Past Gas' from Donut Media, John Ficarra's amazing racing stories on VinWiki, Rocketpoweredmohawk's insane but logical interpretation of the crazy world of F1 and its biblical fanbase.

This story stuck in my mind from my childhood days. Probably read it in the Sportstar magazine (does anyone remember that?)

Reigning champion Ayrton Senna was allegedly pulled over during the 1992 British Grand Prix weekend after being caught doing 125mph – breaking the speed limit by 55mph.

“Who do you think you are, Nigel Mansell?” was how the police officer allegedly addressed Senna.

Pat comes the reply "Actually, I am Aryton Senna" :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ds.raikkonen (Post 5518144)

Netflix's 'Drive to Survive', though provided in depth look into the sport even to the non-F1 fans was not appealing to me

Drive To Survive wasn't for long-time F1 fans like you & me :). It was to bring an entirely new audience to the sport in which it greatly succeeded. There are several reports of how the show increased F1 viewership overall. I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the show as well and in many cases...found it more interesting than a few recent F1 seasons!

Netflix hit the bull's eye with the storytelling (admittedly a lot of masala was thrown in) and production quality, especially from Season 2 onward.

Frankly, I hope that the Senna series is created with the same approach. On the other hand, for purists, there is always the real stuff. Both can happily co-exist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOQLeqRcgKc

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO (Post 5518696)

Netflix hit the bull's eye with the storytelling (admittedly a lot of masala was thrown in) and production quality, especially from Season 2 onward.

Frankly, I hope that the Senna series is created with the same approach. On the other hand, for purists, there is always the real stuff.

True mate, it did bring a lot of people to follow F1. Also Liberty media did give a lot of 'liberty' to the content creators by giving in depth look and never-allowed-before stuff. Will Buxton's theatrics though..

A good benchmark can be the unbelievably good 'Truth in 24' and 'Truth in 24 II' docu-shows about the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It touched upon everything, behind the scenes drama, race chaos, strategy etc. I firmly believe the WEC should be popularized as it too has amazing drivers, races and rivalries.

'Senna' series should be good, especially as Netflix does put up a good show when it comes to documentaries (btw have you seen '14 Peaks' on Netflix, it's amazing).

I'm wondering how much there really is left to tell, after the brilliant 'Senna' movie.

That seemed to pretty much cover it all, I'm wondering how much more they can drag out the already very-well known aspects of Senna's life (and death).

I have watched “Senna”, the documentary by Asif Kapadia more than 3-4 times! I dont know if any movie can ever match up to this masterpiece! Ayrton Senna had something about him, his voice, the way he spoke, something very enigmatic. And this documentary captured that so well! Movies end up being too dramatic and glorified, like the one about Niki Lauda and even the ford vs Ferrari one.

If any of you haven’t watched the documentary,
Please do that! And a special mention to the sound track in the documentary, I have never heard anything like that, it just stays with you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by motorworks (Post 5792864)

Fully agree with you, Senna is probably the best work of Asif Kapadia and nothing comes close regarding anything related to the man, not yet. The whole documentary was so riveting to watch that one almost gets transported into the zone where it feels like Senna is just beside you. Netflix will surely try but as you rightly said, it's very difficult to match that documentary.