Racing great and one winning formula Senna Director: Asif Kapadia Listening to the Spanish Grand Prix on the radio recently, I was struck by references to prime tyres and the relative absence of overtaking. Racers tore round the track, making up time only at pit stops. There was little overtaking –- it was like time trials. Back in the late 1980s and early ’90s, the spectacle of Formula One was very different and more dangerous. This was the world inhabited by Brazilian racing car driver Ayrton Senna, celebrated in director Asif Kapadia’s documentary, Senna.
The film consists entirely of archive footage, from Senna’s early years as a go-kart racer to his success behind the wheel for Team McLaren as Formula One triple world champion. At the risk of a spoiler, Senna died on May 1 1994 at the San Marino Grand Prix, aged 34. He had recently changed teams to Williams, prompted by his great rival Alain Prost’s similar move the season before. Prost retired from the sport a champion in 1993, benefiting from a car with electronic suspension that gave him greater control. In the 1994 season, such technology was banned in order to even the sport up. Senna was deeply unhappy with his new vehicle.
Kapadia could have made a feature documentary on the circumstances of the death of Ayrton Senna alone, delving into the politics behind the decision to clamp down on technological advances. Why should the team with the most money to invest be prevented from winning? There is certainly no such restriction in football. He might have looked in more detail at the high incidence of crashes in the qualifiers, which had claimed the life of driver Roland Ratzenberger the day before. He could have examined the nature of the track itself – was it simply too demanding?
One senses that Formula One chiefs might have something to say about a more investigative piece. What Kapadia gives us instead is a chronological account of Senna’s career. There is very little about his private life, although we do see him flirt shamelessly with Selina Scott who was guest hosting Terry Wogan’s BBC 1 chat show. There is more about Senna’s belief in God, that he felt a spiritual presence in his car that inspired him to victory. His belief in Christian values also inspired him to start a charity to help Brazilian street children. I would have liked to see some evidence of how successful it was; you do feel the restrictions in Kapadia’s aesthetic choices.
There is no doubt that Senna’s rivalry with Prost was something to see – and there is no shortage of controversial incident. We see Senna stand up for himself, and other drivers, at the German Grand Prix drivers’ meeting, to create a chicane with cones rather than walls of tyres (“Tyres make you flip over, as they did for me in my last race”). He secures the backing of his colleagues. In the last race of the 1993 season, Senna crashes into Prost at the Australian Grand Prix, muting Prost’s triumph; the incident seems like a replica of Prost causing Senna to crash in an earlier race. Senna’s non-reversal out of a chicane denies him a title and earns him a fine. He did not have it easy. The film makes you understand why Formula One is such a compelling spectacle for its fans, although when I had to choose between the French Grand Prix and day four of Test Cricket (England versus Sri Lanka), I did automatically plump for the latter – and it was mostly washed out. Senna’s will to win is certainly impressive, and his (professional) story is compellingly told.
