Kaya Scodelario’s character, Laura Harrison, is fictional
Line of Events
A fictional miniseries based on the life of Ayrton Senna da Silva, the Brazilian racing legend who won the Formula 1 World Drivers' Championship three times.. She is based on journalists who followed Ayrton Senna’s career.
She also speaks fluent Brazilian Portuguese
Furthermore, Scodelario’s family is Brazilian, from Senna’s home state of São Paulo. The early races of Senna’s career in England are shown on a racetrack next to a mountain range.
There are no mountains in England – especially Norfolk, which is known for its flat landscape
I call this show the FW16 of biopics because just like the car in which Senna was killed, it was good, but, umm…OK, first the positives. Overall, they got Senna’s uncompromising nature right, especially in the way they illustrated his team managers' resentment.
I agree, but then again, so what?
The attention to detail was brilliant; When I saw the MP4/4 race, I cringed, but that footage of Senna alone in the briefing room at the end of Suzuka perfectly recreates the ITV footage from 1989. I saw another reviewer say that their story was one-sided.
This is clearly a series for Senna fans, not Balestre apologists
Fans who followed the shenanigans from 1989 to 1993 would be familiar with The French Connection, if they didn’t directly believe in its gospel truth. However, there were a few things the writers could have paid attention to: 1) Including Senna’s personal relationships with people like Gerhard Berger and Josef Leberer went a long way in humanizing him; 2) They could have put a lot more emphasis on the work Senna put into developing the car – he was known for giving his mechanics feedback until they begged to go home; i3) Donnington 1993 – I can’t believe they completely ignored the greatest single lap in the entire history of F1.
