Meet the legend... "Senna"

A couple of days ago the 2024 Formula 1 season officially concluded, a season in which Max Verstappen, the Dutch driver of Red Bull Racing was crowned champion for the fourth time in a row, although this time it cost him a little more than expected... The thing is that I have been following this sport with quite a bit of passion for a couple of years and I try to give a chance to most of the audiovisual works that are created about it (and about the world of motorsport in general)

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Unfortunately the examples are scarce, on the one hand we have the controversial Drive to Survive (A Netflix documentary that reviews the most "relevant" storylines of each season with a little touch of exaggeration), and on the other hand we have biographical and fictional films, such as the excellent Rush and the F1 film that will be released in the middle of next year with Brad Pitt as the protagonist.

The point is that despite the growing popularity of the sport, there are few spaces to enjoy it outside of the broadcast of each race, although the inquisitive role that social networks and the Internet in general are taking is appreciated to allow us to enjoy the pinnacle of motorsport without having to have a race on the television.

Perhaps for this reason it is quite easy for me to ignore the problems of Senna, the new Netflix miniseries that is responsible for narrating the life of one of the greatest drivers in history: The Brazilian Ayrton Senna.

And although in terms of script and rhythm the series could leave a bad taste in the mouths of the most hardcore fans of the sport (And to a certain extent I include myself), it is undeniable that it is a perfect way to reach his inspiring story (and his tragic end) to the masses.

"Senna" is a series that doesn't bother spending a large portion of its footage on the more technical aspects of motorsport, but it serves as a superficial but effective celebration of the sport in the 80s/90s, a fascinating but chaotic era where everything felt a little more precarious.

From his humble beginnings in karting to his eternal rivalry with Alain Prost, Senna is a nostalgic journey that knows how to represent very well the mentality of a winning driver, far from conformist and willing to do whatever it takes to provide the best possible result.

As I said at the beginning, it is far from perfect, and in audiovisual terms there are a couple of very specific moments where it would be best to let down your guard to enjoy, even so, we greatly appreciate the final result, an emotional series that effectively immerses us in the career of one of the greatest athletes of all time, and that invites us to investigate a little more about what happened that is not shown in the scant 6 episodes that comprise it.

It's wonderful to be able to see all these old cars in action, and it's worth the good casting, starting with Ayrton himself (played by Gabriel Leone), to the other drivers who are represented very faithfully, such as Nikky Lauda, Alain Prost and James Hunt, to mention a couple of them.