The other tricky watch was the vintage piece used as a fictionalized plot point in the show, which helps with the communication of the important connection between Senna, his home country, and his family. “It would be easy to imagine that his was a part of his life when he was traveling all around the world and for me, as someone who idolizes Senna, it helps to communicate clearly that while Senna was extremely competitive on the track, he was someone who was full of love and loyalty to those close to him,” says Biebuyck.
For that particular timepiece, Biebuyck was given a bit of guidance by the Netflix team that it should be a chronograph and gold. “We settled on what is often called a pre-Carrera, reference 409 from around 1955. Made of solid gold and housing a Valjoux 22, its 35mm diameter case size would have been big for the period, certainly something fitting of what Ayrton’s father would have worn,” he says.
Nailing the right timepieces was a mammoth task but capturing Senna’s aura was equally as crucial. Actor Gabriel Leone, also a TAG Heuer ambassador, had to figure that out — something that goes beyond costume changes and time spent in the hair and makeup department’s chair. “It was another level of immersing myself for almost a year shooting the series and of course, as a Brazilian playing one of our biggest heroes and icons. It was an honor, and a huge responsibility for me,” says Leone over a video call. “I really love to change myself, to change the way I look, for the characters. When you’re playing a fictional character you have more freedom to create it. But when you’re playing someone as famous as Senna, you have to get as close to him as possible,” he says. “When I was looking at myself in the mirror, I couldn’t find him. I knew how hard I would have to work.”
Leone read as much as he could on Senna, and watched hours of footage. “For me, more important than anything else was to find his essence. I started watching him, focusing on his eyes. His eyes were so unique, so truthful and emotional. That’s when I started to understand him more,” he adds.
For Leone, the filming highlight was when Senna won at home in Brazil for the first time in 1991, in a race where a gearbox malfunction forced him to race the last seven laps in sixth gear — in the rain. “But he still won the race and he passed out in the end. And you have this remarkable and emotional moment of him struggling to lift the trophy,” says Leone. “I can’t be 100% sure of it, but I think it’s one of the most, if not the most emotional moment of his life, of his career.”
This story originally appeared on British GQ.
