Five years after launching its popular Formula One docuseries “Drive to Survive,” Netflix has dipped into the history of auto racing’s most prestigious championship for its first scripted project about the sport, based on the life of one of its all-time greats: Ayrton Senna.
Although “Drive to Survive” and the recent establishment of three Grand Prix races in the U.S. have helped expand the sport’s popularity with American audiences, it remains, like soccer, much more significant abroad. As such, “Senna,” produced in Brazil and filmed largely in Portuguese with the support of F1’s governing body, seems likely to forge new ties between Netflix and diehard F1 fans who already know of Senna and his accomplishments.
The driver was previously the subject of Asif Kapadia’s 2011 documentary “Senna.”
