I have been able to catch the first two episodes of the new Senna series and unfortunately it has its issues. I will say that I am not a big fan of Docu-drama’s because, while they are based on a true story, the film makers are at liberty to make up any part of the story they wish.
Once these fictionalized elements become part of the film they become a (false) truth. For example; did Enzo Ferrari acknowledge Carroll Shelby at Le Man after the GT40 won, as shown in Ford V Ferrari. No he didn’t because Enzo was in Italy, he didn’t travel to the circuits where his cars were racing.
So my advice is to be skeptical about the story and just enjoy it as a piece of entertainment. Remember that the series has been approved by the Senna family who are committed to maintaining (and growing?) the Senna legend.
Overall I enjoyed the programme. It has a strong period feel and the liveries on the race cars seem pretty accurate and the racing scenes are particularly well shot. However, the British racing circuit seems to be located at the base of a mountain range and the filming was restricted to the finish line.
The first two episodes present Senna as a victim. He lost the world Karting championship because officials manipulated the rules to give the title to another driver. He was losing the Formula Ford title to Martin Brundle who (allegedy) was using an illegal spec engine. The representation of Martin Brundles fans as bare chested drinking thugs was not only innacurate but frankly, offensive. He was racing a Toleman in his first season in F1 and drove brilliantly in the rain at Monaco to get to second place but………….. he was likely to win when the French officials stopped the race on the last lap so that a Frenchman win. Finally he was denied a drive with Lotus in 1985 because he wasn’t British but fellow Brazillian Emerson Fittipaldi drove to a world championship with Lotus in 1972.
It is a shame that the series took the route of a Senna promotion rather than telling the story of a hugely complex man and a brilliant driver with an ultimately tragic end.
As I said, the programme is interesting and entertaining enough. If you have Netflix then you will probably enjoy it, but if you don’t, I wouldn’t loose sleep about missing it.
I have tried to watch Senna, I was around in the UK at that time, I saw him drive and have some very good memories of him and his attitude.
The series is way to o far away from the truth that it is embarrassing and. Cringeworthy.
I am not an expert on his life but this is certainly not going to help any of be so.
It’s a no from me.