'Senna' Netflix Ending Explained, Finale Recap & Real Reason Behind Ayrton's Death

The Netflix miniseries on the legendary racing driver, Senna, covered his whole life story over the course of six very long episodes, with the show’s ending focusing on the lead-up to the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, where he unfortunately perished. Ever since he took up go-kart racing, Ayrton Senna was a stickler for fair play and scoffed at rules that were made to favor the racer that organizers loved. Things reached a boiling point in his professional career when the FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile) disqualified Ayrton’s win at the Formula One Suzuka Grand Prix because of a technicality, thereby prompting him to speak against the organization at a press conference. According to the show, the stress of dealing with the politics of racing while also partaking in death-defying competitions got to him and led to a bad muscle spasm after the 1991 Brazilian Grand Prix. Three years later, when Ayrton joined Williams Racing, he faced the uphill battle of driving in cars that were unable to keep up with the FIA’s technical restrictions, i.e., the banning of electronic driver aids. That, coupled with several of his contemporaries crashing out, took a heavy toll on Ayrton. Were these some of the factors that caused the driver’s death? Let’s parse through the Netflix miniseries’ finale and find out.

Spoiler Alert

Senna Wanted To Bring Back The Drivers’ Association

After joining Williams Racing, Senna complained about the fact that the FW16 was practically unfit for driving because his knuckles kept scraping against the cockpit. This was caused by a change in the race car’s construction after technical parts like active suspension, anti-lock brakes, etc. were banned by the FIA. Ayrton technically couldn’t protest this decision or claim that it was an attempt to sabotage his career, because these alterations affected every racer equally. That said, news reporter Laura pointed out that Benetton was secretly using the banned “driver aids,” thereby making the whole competition pretty unfair. Despite Ayrton’s apprehensions, he tried to be neutral about these regulations, but Rubens Barrichello’s crash compelled him to change his stance. While talking to McLaren’s Martin Brundle and Simtek’s Roland Ratzenberger, Ayrton lamented how the competitions were never canceled or postponed when something catastrophic happened on the racetrack. 

Brundle and Ratzenberger essentially told Senna to face the fact that this was a money game, and as long as the FIA and the sponsors were raking in the moolah, they wouldn’t let humanity take the driver’s seat. Ayrton approached Niki Lauda and discussed the prospects of creating a drivers’ association again so that the steering wheel was in the hands of the drivers if and when they felt that the circumstances weren’t right for racing, and they didn’t have to dance to the tune of the FIA and the sponsors. Unfortunately, before they could make that happen, Ratzenberger’s car crashed, and the guy died on the spot. Ayrton put his foot down and refused to drive out of respect for Ratzenberger, and Frank Williams (the co-owner of Williams Racing) had to oblige. Multiple teams followed suit, including Benetton, and refused to race because a driver had died. Given the seriousness of the situation, even Ayrton’s archrival, Alain Prost, agreed to help Ayrton with reestablishing the drivers’ association so that, in the future, no driver fell prey to the federation’s whimsical rules and regulations.

Ayrton Senna Wanted To Postpone The 1994 Grand Prix

For the first time in his life, Senna didn’t want to race, because the circumstances and conditions just weren’t right. He quelled Adriane’s (Ayrton’s partner back then) and Galvao’s (Ayrton’s friend, who later went on to become a famous TV personality) apprehensions but only told his mother, Zaza, the truth about what he was really feeling. Milton, Ayrton’s father, advised him to do what he thought was right. He attended the meeting between the drivers and then FIA President, Max Mosley, where the latter was talking about the loss of Ratzenberger while assuring drivers that the track met all the safety regulations (something that Ayrton was skeptical about and notified Lauda regarding). The drivers and managers exchanged doubtful looks as Mosley brought up the risk of racing even in the most desirable conditions, even though the guy had no idea about what it meant to put your life on the line at upwards of 186 miles per hour to feel the adrenaline rush of a lifetime and entertain racing fans all over the world. You’d think that the worst part about Mosley’s speech was him asking the drivers to simply move on from the death of Ratzenberger and get ready for the race. But he followed that up with the statement that since there was no time to review the rules and regulations (that were apparently rendering the racing cars unusable) before the race, the drivers would just have to abide by them. 

Well, that basically meant that the FIA was never going to look into the issues they had created for the drivers because then they’d be accepting the fact that their ignorance and stubbornness had led to the death of a racer. Everyone walked out of that meeting without saying a word, but Ayrton couldn’t stay quiet, and he cornered Mosley so as to have a one-on-one conversation with him. Mosley started reiterating what he had just said in his speech, and Ayrton requested that he drop the statesman act and talk to him like a man. Ayrton underscored the fact that a new set of rules and regulations needed to be put in place after a discussion between the drivers and the federation. At that point, it was a one-way street with the FIA slapping the rules upon the drivers, without thinking about their repercussions, and the drivers trying their best to adjust to it, while worrying about their life instead of enjoying the race. Ayrton was of the opinion that until that dialogue happened, they should postpone the San Marino Grand Prix. Mosley thought that Ayrton’s proposal was preposterous, and he advised the racer to simply retire from the competition if he thought that he wasn’t up for it.

Senna Allegedly Died Due to Technical Restrictions

In Senna’s ending, FIA Medical Chief Professor Sid Watkins pointed out that the wounds on Ayrton’s hands weren’t healing anymore because they were constantly scraping against his car’s cockpit. While everything about the crashes could be chalked up to the driver’s incapabilities, Ayrton’s bleeding hands were proof of the fact that the FIA’s rules were directly impacting the driver. Since Ayrton couldn’t quit and take up fishing, like Sid had advised, he thought that the least he could do was carry the Austrian flag with him, which was delivered to him by none other than Niki Lauda, and unfurl it at the end of the race to remind everyone about Ratzenberger’s passing. Unfortunately, Ayrton didn’t see the end of that race because his car crashed, and he suffered grievous external and internal injuries, which led to his death. Now, according to the Netflix miniseries, the major reason behind Ayrton’s death was the regulations set by the FIA. 

As mentioned before, the injuries on Ayrton’s hands were proof of the fact that the FIA didn’t care if their drivers weren’t performing under the best conditions. They just came up with these rules and called it a day. Given how the institution was run by egotistical men, they were not ready to admit their mistake, even though experienced drivers were pointing out the issues to them. Additionally, Ayrton was clearly not in the right headspace after the accidents that happened before and during (JJ Lehto and Pedro Lamy were involved in a crash) his last race. Also, and this wasn’t addressed in detail by the show, back in 1982, Ayrton suffered from Bell’s palsy due to a viral infection, and Watkins treated it with the help of steroids. It’s not clear if there was any lasting impact of that viral infection and whether or not it played a role on that fatal day, and I don’t think there’s any point in thinking about that because the predominant factor was the mindless rules of the FIA. Fortunately, after the deaths of Ratzenberger and Senna, the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association was re-founded and the number of fatal accidents went down significantly, thereby proving the importance of experts and trade unions.

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