Gabriel Leone to play Ayrton Senna in Netflix docuseries based on world-famous Formula 1 icon's life
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA : Ayrton Senna will be portrayed by Brazilian actor Gabriel Leone in an upcoming Netflix dramatization of his life, the streaming service has announced. Leone, now 29 years old, was born exactly one year before Senna's death in a crash at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. He became well-known for his part in the Amazon Prime Video produced Brazilian television series 'Dom'. Leone's casting was announced on what would have been Senna's 63rd birthday.
The announcement about the fictionalised drama depicting Senna's life was first made by Netflix in 2020, after finding success with the well-liked F1 series 'Drive to Survive'. The development of the eight-part series, which was initially scheduled to debut in 2022, was postponed and the final version has only six episodes.
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Who is Ayrton Senna?
Ayrton Senna da Silva was raised in affluence in a wealthy Brazilian family. Born on March 21, 1960, he soon manifested an intense urge for racing. Beginning with an obsession for a toy go-kart his father got him when he was four years old, Senna was soon obsessed with car racing despite the fact that he would never need to race for money. He participated in his first kart race at age 13 and won it right away. After divorcing his young wife and giving up his chance at a future in his father's businesses, he entered single-seater racing in Britain eight years later and won five championships there in three years. He then decided against pursuing a career in his father's businesses in favour of racing in Formula One, where he made his debut with Toleman in 1984.
When McLaren-Honda won 15 out of the 16 races in 1988, Senna defeated teammate Alain Prost by an eight wins to seven win margin to win his first driving championship. Following that, two of the best drivers starred in one of the most historic feuds. By knocking Senna off the track at the Suzuka chicane in 1989, Prost won the race. Senna took Prost's Ferrari out at the first corner of Suzuka in 1990 to exact retribution and won his second championship. Senna's third victory, in 1991, was simple as his dominance as a driver and his obsession with improving became even more apparent. Arguably his best achievements were during his final season with McLaren before moving to Williams for the disastrous 1994 season.
Senna's 'death race'
While leading the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Italy on May 1, 1994, Brazilian Formula One driver Ayrton Senna was killed when his car collided with a concrete barrier. Roland Ratzenberger, an Austrian driver, had perished the day before in a race qualification incident. His and Senna's crashes were the worst of the many that occurred that weekend (including a critical one involving Rubens Barrichello) and were the first fatal collisions to happen at a Formula One race meeting in 12 years. They weren't repeated until Jules Bianchi's deadly crash at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka Circuit.
