The sound and fury of motor racing is given a spiritual makeover through the eyes and actions of a legend behind the wheel. His name: Senna.

You don’t have to be a Formula One fan to appreciate what director Asif Kapadia has created in this documentary. Sure, Ayrton Senna was the Michael Jordan of motor racing, and fans will get a kick out of what is on offer here. But it is the transparent nature of Senna which gives it power, intrigue and emotion. It’s not what Ayrton Senna did on the racing track that made him special: it’s how and why he did it.

Senna is a riveting and moving journey that the best fiction writers could not create. It is through remarkable, access all areas footage and expert commentary that this story could be told, so close to the action that you can smell the fumes in the pit.

Born in Brazil to a prominent family, it is quickly established that Ayrton was a competitor in the purest sense and a perfectionist to the point of obsession. Losing was never an option. “Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose”, Ayrton once famously proclaimed.

Such proclamations made Ayrton a hero of the circuit and to his fellow Brazilians, but also made him an enemy of French master driver Alain Prost, who viewed Ayrton as dangerous and delusional.

The rivalry between the two delves into the politics of Formula One and also makes for great drama. Often it seemed that it was Senna vs the Man, in this case being Formula One boss Jean-Marie Balestre, a French national whose buddy-buddy relationship with Prost raised many eyebrows.

Kapadia smartly taps into the personas of these racing giants, and lets their actions decide who are hero and villain. But in no way is Senna a biased movie. Prost is given equal opportunity to state his case (cementing his reputation as a cold tactician), and Ayrton is not given leniency for his flaws, namely his stubbornness and ego.

Yet those flaws are what make Ayrton Senna such an interesting subject. An immensely religious man, Ayrton’s proclamation that God was his guide and protector on the track places him on another plateau, and makes the racing sequences a much more spiritual and dangerous realm in a sport where the chance of death could be waiting around the corner.

It is hard not to be awestruck by the fearlessness in Ayrton’s driving, the faith in his abilities, the way he drove between the raindrops and surrendered to the divinity of powers beyond his control.

Ultimately fate stepped in, and dead at 34 is where Ayrton ended his journey on Earth. Yet long after the smoke had cleared and the howling engines ceased, Ayrton will forever be known as a hero of a nation and a Formula One saint.

Legacy is a hard thing to obtain, and in the case of Ayrton Senna he was blessed indeed.