Netflix Drives Drama Miniseries About Racing Champion Ayrton Senna

Naman Ramachandran
·2 min read

Netflix is producing an eight-episode fictional miniseries based on the life of Ayrton Senna da Silva (1960-1994), the Brazilian racing legend who won the Formula One World Drivers’ Championship three times.

The miniseries will explore Senna’s personality and family relationships. The starting point will be Ayrton’s career debut, when he moved to England, and will culminate in the tragic accident in Imola, Italy, during the San Marino Grand Prix, when he died.

The series is produced by Brazil’s Gullane (“The Traitor”) for Netflix with the active participation of Senna’s family. The miniseries will have international locations in addition to intimate locations such as the house where Senna grew up, in São Paulo state, and to which his relatives granted unprecedented access.

“It is very special to be able to announce that we will tell the story that only a few people know about him. The Senna family is committed in making this project something totally unique and unprecedented. And no one better than Netflix, that has a global reach, to be our partner,” said Viviane Senna, Ayrton’s sister.

“Senna is the type of person we need. A young man that fought for his dream and faced many obstacles in order to represent a nation. Senna unites Brazil,” Fabiano and Caio Gullane said.

“Senna started his journey in São Paulo and conquered the world, we are honored to take his inspiring journey to all his fans, wherever they are. Ayrton Senna has a legacy that spans generations and boundaries and Netflix is proud to take this new look at the man behind the driver to subscribers in more than 190 countries,” said Maria Angela de Jesus, director of original international productions at Netflix in Brazil.

The miniseries will be shot in English and Brazilian Portuguese, and is set to launch in 2022.

More from Variety

Best of Variety

Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.