Senna

Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect when I started Senna, I mean yeah, you hear the name Ayrton Senna and you think fast cars, championships, legend status. But the way Netflix went about this? Way better than I thought. It’s not just about racing; it’s about the guy behind it, the good, the bad, everything in between.

The series takes its time showing how he rose up, how obsessed he was with being the best, and how that obsession wasn’t always sunshine and trophies. You really feel how much pressure he put on himself, and how much Brazil pinned their hopes on him too. It’s crazy how someone so young basically carried a whole country’s pride on his shoulders.

Also this is not really part of it but if you watch the movie Rush and then watch the series, there is certain continuity which is certainly enjoyable. It always feels nice to understand the reference and importance of those characters.

The racing scenes? They nailed it. It’s not over the top or some Hollywood, it’s shot in a way that actually feels tense, like you’re in the car with him. And the cinematography really leaned into that old school ‘80s-‘90s look, not too polished, which made it feel real. They even got into the whole rivalry with Alain Prost without making it cartoonish it felt messy and complicated like it really was.

Gabriel Leone, who plays Senna, does a solid job too doesn’t try to overact, just lets the small stuff show, like how driven and stubborn the guy really was.

It’s not a series trying to be a Wikipedia page about Senna. It’s messy, it’s emotional, it’s sometimes even frustrating just like real life. And by the time you get to the end, even if you already know what’s coming, it still hits you like a truck.