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The 70-year-old French driver was not happy with how his relationship with Senna was portrayed and hit out at the series, claiming the depiction of his rivalry with late Brazilian legend Ayrton Senna had been fictionalised.
Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna. (X)
Four-time Formula 1 world champion Alain Prost has slammed Netflix’s new series, Senna. The ex-racer hit out at the series, claiming the depiction of his rivalry with late Brazilian legend Ayrton Senna had been fictionalised. Netlfix released the six-episode series at the end of 2024, 31 years after Senna’s tragic death. It covers the Brazilian’s journey and rivalry with Prost. The 70-year-old French driver, however, was not happy with how his relationship with Senna was portrayed. “Bulls***, bullsh***, complete bulls***,” he told Motorsport.com. “Almost everything has been completely fictionalised,” the racing icon added.
Prost endured a fierce rivalry with Senna in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The duo even enjoyed a tense relationship as teammates at McLaren in 1988 and 1989. They collided twice at the Japanese Grand Prix in both 1989 and 1990. The pair reportedly grew closer before Senna’s untimely death at Imola in 1994 at the San Marino Grand Prix. Following Prost’s criticism of the Netflix series, their relationship has once again come under the microscope.
Speaking further about the recently-released Neflix series, Prost opined he has been depicted as the bad guy. Their rivalry was previously explored in Asif Kapadia’s film Senna in 2010. Prost was frustrated by that depiction as well, despite being involved. Referring to the film, Prost said, “I’ve only seen a few pictures and heard quite a lot of feedback. As with the film Senna, the first one, which I probably spent even more time on than my own documentary, and this biopic, it’s obvious that I won’t be satisfied, of course.”
Prost felt that some ‘repetitive’ anecdotes had been inserted in the Neflix series which were inaccurate. “Because there is always a good guy and a bad guy. I know a little bit about the story that is being told and yes, it is a biopic, it is fictionalised. But unfortunately, a few repetitive stories are inserted that are totally made up, just totally wrong,” he concluded.
Senna and Prost became teammates after Honda ended its partnership with Williams and joined McLaren. The Frenchman was already well-suited within the team after joining the British carmakers in 1984. Honda, however, was keen to add a Brazilian driver due to its strong market in South America. The partnership resulted in an extremely dominant car and a heated rivalry between the two F1 stars. The Senna-Prost partnership at McLaren eventually ended at the end of the 1990 season.
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