Showrunner Vicente Amorim catalogs what turned Senna — who died tragically at 34 in a 1994 accident in Italy during the San Marino Grand Prix — into an icon who inspired kids and teens alike.

Senna tested for Williams, McLaren, Brabham and Toleman during 1983. On one run in the McLaren-Ford MP4/1 he kept the throttle pinned even as the engine lunched itself behind him. Team principal ...