How Netflix built 22 F1 cars for its series on Ayrton Senna!

For the mini-series Senna on Netflix, the production made colossal efforts to reproduce Formula 1 replicas.

In order to bring Ayrton Senna’s incredible career back to life, Netflix took on a colossal technical challenge. They had to build 22 functional replicas of cars Formula 1 emblematic. Find out how this ambitious project came to be.

Netflix has worked hard on Ayrton Senna’s series

Without the legendary Formula 1 cars, recreating Senna’s exploits would have been clearly unthinkable. However, it was certainly impossible to use the original models for the purposes of several months of filming. At present, old F1 cars are scattered all over the world. They are found in particular in museums and private collections.

On a mechanical level, running these historic cars would have required specialists and this would have caused problems. exorbitant costs. Furthermore, real Formula 1 cars are clearly not designed to handle the demanding pace of filming. Ultimately, Netflix turned to Crespian Argentinian automobile manufacturer. The company busied itself building faithful replicas of the cars of Senna and its competitors at the time.

At Crespi, an extremely careful process has been put in place to bring each F1 model back to life. Thanks to the original plans and to scans 3Deach model could be faithfully reproduced. In order to optimize filming, certain chassis could accommodate several different bodies. In addition, all replicas have contemporary materials to combine lightness and resistance.

A showcase for Ayrton Senna’s legacy

From the outside, these replicas look really good like real F1 cars. However, their performances were logically adjusted for production needs. In reality, the cars were equipped with common four-cylinder engines. This already offers a sufficient speed to create realistic scenes during the final rendering. The cars were calibrated to simulate the feeling of speed on the track, without exceeding the limits necessary for filming.

Thanks to the numerous visual effectsthe speed and intensity of the races are reinforced in the image. In order to completely immerse the spectators, the sounds of the original engines are added to the montage, because a 4-cylinder engine is clearly not capable of reproducing the sound of an F1 car.

For the actors, the immersion was also total. All the actors, including Gabriel Leone who plays Ayrton Senna, followed a formation intensive. Thus, the actors learned the basics of controlling racing cars. They have held some competitions karting to immerse yourself in the world of motorsport. This was a key step in understanding the Brazilian pilot’s journey.

In short, Netflix and Crespi have made a truly colossal effort to reproduce the essence of Formula 1 cars in the years 1980 et 1990.