Ayrton Senna was without doubt one of the greatest Formula 1 drivers of the modern era. Between 1984 and 1994, he won three Formula One World Championship titles with McLaren and at the time of his death in 1994, held the record of 65 Pole Positions and had 41 grand prix wins across the 11 seasons.
Senna is remembered as an incredibly talented driver who always pushed his car to the limit, as well as being fiercely competitive especially from 1988 when he joined Frenchman Alain Prost at McLaren. Between them, they won all but one of the 16 Grand Prix that year with Senna claiming his first World Championship, Prost then claimed the championship in 1989, and Senna his second and third championships in 1990 and 1991.
In 1992, the Williams-Renault team began to dominate Formula One, however Senna still managed to finish the 1993 season as runner-up, and successfully negotiated a move to Williams for the 1994 season.
Sadly, on May 1st, 1994, at the age of 34, Ayrton Senna died after crashing into a concrete barrier whilst leading the San Marino Grand Prix at the Imola Circuit in Italy. His death was the culmination of what has been described as the darkest weekend in Formula One history as the previous day, Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger died when his car crashed during qualifying.
Such was Senna’s popularity in his home country of Brazil, it was estimated that more than three million people attended his state funeral in São Paulo.
Over the years there have been several documentaries of Ayton Senna’s life including ‘Ayrton Senna – The Fall of a Racing Legend’, ‘The Ayrton Senna Story: Unauthorized and Complete’ and ‘Ayrton Senna Documentary’ all to varying reviews, so it will be interesting to see how this new Six-part Netflix series will be received when it debuts on November 29th2024.
Senna | Official Trailer | Netflix
This Tudum by Netflix site goes behind the scenes of the new ‘Senna’ series:
Everything to Know About Senna, a New Series About the Brazilian Racing Hero
