*****Ayrton Senna was always seen as the enemy in my house when I was growing up.
As huge Nigel Mansell fans, we were constantly aggrieved to see our hero thwarted by the mercurial Brazilian, yet it wasn't just his occasional rivalry with the Brummy that poisoned our view.
For the main part, this documentary focuses firmly on Senna's intense rivalry with the other great driver of his era, the Frenchman and 4-time World Champion Alain Prost.
Prost's diametrically opposed approach of cold calculation - giving rise to the nickname 'The Professor' - resulted in great friction between the drivers, not only manifesting itself in the paddock but also on the track and resulting in two of the most infamous incidents in Grand Prix history at Japan's Suzuka circuit in 1989 and 1990.
The British media at the time portrayed Senna as very much the guilty party, arrogant and reckless to the point of dangerous liability. Director Asif Kapadia's portrayal however, paints Senna as the victim of politics and, in particular, Prost's close relationship with head of the FIA, Jean-Marie Balestre, also a French national.
Certainly Prost shows his true colours when instantly heading to the stewards office following the 1989 collision, ultimately resulting in the latters disqualification and thus handing the title to Prost.
Senna found F1's politics abhorrent, deeming its prevalence contrary to the very spirit of the sport that he engendered to so many of his adoring Brazilian fans. He comes across as the most staunch purist, always quick to defend his actions - "the racer who sees a gap and doesn't go for it can no longer call himself a racer".
Throughout we are treated to insider footage of driver meetings, team discussions and interviews from the time, much of which fans will not have seen previously. Not only does it shed new light on events but it adds a humanity which was never apparent through the prism of the media.
On the race weekend of his death in 1994, just 24hrs after Roland Ratzenberger's fatal crash in qualifying, we see Senna visibly upset at the passing of his colleague, shaking his head and close to tears in the car on the grid. The audience, knowing a similar fate awaits him, can't fail to be affected by the tragic irony.
As we ride on board with Senna in his very final moments - horrific, upsetting but never exploitative - the tension is palpable. With no narration nor talking heads to dissect the original footage, we are left simply with the whine of the engine. A somehow fitting accompaniement as the life of a remarkable sporting competitor comes to an all too premature end.
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