Rush and Senna

This is going to seem like a strange entry but I wanted to record it if only for myself. When I was growing up I was a serious Formula One fan and two events remain in my mind as defining moments of enjoying the sport. The first was James Hunt winning the F1 Championship (and Niki Lauda’s accident), and the second was the death of Ayrton Senna. I wasn’t watching the former live, but saw it on repeats (TV was much more limited in those days, so live feeds were few and far between). The latter I was watching with friends as it happened and can still remember where I was to this day - in the dorms at university, having just eaten lunch! There was excitement, risk and sadness in equal measure for each event and yet over the years they dwindled in my mind as other things, such as real life, took hold and dragged me through the present and into the future.

That was until I watched the movies Senna and Rush over the course of the last couple of years. Both of these movies are very different beasts and yet both of them excel in brining to the watcher that sense of what is was like being there at the time. As someone who was there at the time and someone who watches F1 today when I have time, they also illustrate what I think the sport misses these days: excitement and challenges (ok, the risk is a big element here). If you’re at all interested in Formula One then check out either or both of these films!