Dramatic Documentary (OT)

This three-year-old grew up to be one of the greatest racing drivers in history,
and the last F1 driver to die in the heat of battle until Bianchi in 2015

A few days ago, May 1, was the 25th anniversary of the death of Ayrton Senna.

If you've never seen the movie Senna, I highly recommend it—it's one of the great stories, easy to appreciate even if you don't care at all about cars or racing. It's a documentary that has more drama than most fictitious films. One sports movie you shouldn't miss.

Senna was one of those rare figures who transcend their sports. He won the World Championship in 1988, 1990, and 1991, and died while leading the San Marino Grand Prix in Italy in 1994.

Senna the movie was first recommended to me by a TOP reader, years ago.

Mike

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B&H Photo • Adorama

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Peter McKenzie: "I watched him race in Adelaide in the '80s. There was a palpable hunger to his driving style that instantly stood out. Very sad that he died so young and in such tragic circumstances.

"If I can indulge on a slight tangent here. I took my wife to see Senna the movie when it came out. She is by no means a rev head, but she was enthralled by the story and entranced by Ayrton. The outcome was, thus, inevitable when near the end of the story she suddenly wailed, hit me and broke into tears saying 'you didn’t tell me he dies!'"

David Lee: "I’ve been a F1 fan since 1978. I used to hate Senna. I was sure all the hype in my dear Mexico was because he was latino, a Brazilian. The minute I saw him drive live, seated in stand 23 in Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, I converted and became his number one fan. There are millions of us. There are countless stories and anecdotes about him everywhere; anybody can read about them. The documentary, Mike, is fantastic, but you will need at least three or four more to do justice to this guy. I don’t have many heroes. Ayrton Senna is one of them. The day he died, I woke up very early, around 4:30 a.m., to find the race feed in the satellite dish and record the race. I had a flight that day, but before leaving home to the airport I went to say goodbye to my wife and told her that Senna crashed and it didn’t look good. When I returned home later that day, all the world new about his death. I still have the tape. Still don’t feel like watching it. Maybe in another 25 years."

beuler: "You just made me go watch F1 videos on YouTube. I haven't watched F1 for 25 years. I first saw Ayrton Senna race at the Macau Grand Prix in Formula 3 in the mid-eighties. It was one of those beautiful black and gold JPS cars. Senna won of course and I became a fan. Years later I saw him race at the Estoril circuit near my house in the Portuguese Formula 1 Grand Prix. I miss the Sunday ritual of sitting down for two hours to watch a race on television."

hugh crawford: "I went to see the film with my wife in a theatre the last day of its run in NYC. Her first comment was how she had never been in a theater full of middle-aged men crying before. It’s that kind of film."

Khürt Williams: "Wow! As a Formula 1 fan, I never thought I’d find a connection to my favorite sport on TOP. I guess I am getting old.  :-)  I took a day off work and drove more than an hour from New Jersey to Philadelphia to see the Senna movie. One of the best documentaries I have ever seen."

Al C.: "Senna died while leading the race at Imola. The driver behind him that day was Michael Schumacher, who is reportedly still in a vegetative state after his freak skiing accident more than five years ago. To my way of thinking, Schumacher's end is the more tragic of the two."

Tom: "I remember watching it live on TV. In one of those funny ways in which events seen by the eye can arrive at the brain in the wrong order I was convinced it was Damon Hill, who was in third place, who had crashed.

"Let's remember Roland Ratzenberger also died that weekend. I believe an Austrian flag was found in Senna's cockpit. He intended to win the race and trail the flag from the car on the victory lap as was common at that time."

David Babsky: "Asif Kapadia (the director) edited this film on a computer on his kitchen table in east London."

Comments

[Ken James]

So Sad.

[Ken White]

I remember watching the race the day he died. It didn't look that serious and F1 drivers didn't die the way they once had. He was gone sitting there in his Williams. I miss his incredible passion.
Here is my take on F1 https://www.phototrice.com/archives/1675

[Timothy Auger]

For me, the death of F1 drivers has had special impact since Britain ‘s first world champion driver Mike Hawthorn was killed on a public road in the late 1950s. My father was his family doctor, and at the age of nine I chatted with him while we were waiting to have our hair cut. Of such things memories are made!

[A. Dias]

Senna, Fangio, Stirling Moss, Jim Clark, and Jackie Stewart are some of the 'natural' drivers ever. Currently beyond the very good in the circuit I still consider Kimi Raikonnen the one in that class.

[Rob Campbell]

Watched that race on tv. After the accident it seemed to take forever for anything to happen; he seemed to be propped up against the side, with nobody sure about his actual condition, to move him or not.

In recent years I have given up on F1 and find it a boring procession just like back in the Shumacher days. The only race left with any glamour was Monaco, and then the PC Brigade came down on the pretty girls that made that event unique. Anyway, it will all be scrapped in favour of electrical racing soon, and no bad thing. Gasoline killed too many drivers.

Rob

[Jim Arthur]

I like the checkered flags on the front and side of little Ayrton's Jeep. I'm having trouble translating the hand written message on the brush guard. Can anyone make that out?

[Lorne Cheeseman]

I used to be a big F1 and Senna fan. I remember getting up early to watch that race on CBC in Canada. At first I thought it was Damon Hill who crashed and then the reality set in. Such a sad day. I sobbed when the news finally hit several hours later. I watched F1 for a couple more years but never had the same passion for it after that. I haven't watched or cared for many years now. Senna the movie was excellent and I have watched it a couple times. Agree that it has more drama than any documentary ever.

[Helcio J. Tagliolatto]

"I'm having trouble translating the hand written message on the brush guard. Can anyone make that out?
Posted by: Jim Arthur"

Literally: "Car ride? Just in skirt."
It's a sexist joke very common in those years. Something like : "free rides only for women"

[Shaun]

The Netflix Formula 1 series is recommended.

[jerry welch]

I gave up ever watching F1 after Senna died.

[Phil Aynsley]

Senna on the grid at Adelaide in 1985.

http://www.philaphoto.com/imageLibrary/displayimage.php?album=1612&pos=16