Imagine Senna but with five of motorsport’s most accomplished, legendary drivers—the lives of whom all intertwine in complex ways. That’s the bare bones outline of the Motorsport Network’s new film, , which will be released in May.
BAFTA and Sundance award winning director and producer Manish Pandey is the name behind the ambitious project, according to . While his first feature, Senna, was incredibly well received by racing fans around the world, Pandey decided to step things up a notch with Motorsport Heroes. Instead of focusing on just one man, he’s connecting the lives of five drivers: the narratives of , Tom Kristensen, Mika Häkkinen, Felipe Massa, and Michael Schumacher.
Rather than script out the documentary before anything else, Pandey wanted to try something new. He put Mouton, Kristensen, Häkkinen, and Massa together in one house for a weekend to let them really get to know each other and explore some of the darker depths of their careers. Then, Pandey lets each of them tell their own story in their own words, weaving into these tales the archival footage of the moments in question.
This whole project is based on coincidences in the relatively small circle of motorsport. Mouton founded the Race of Champions as a way for the greats of motorsport to race against one another—and it’s there that all of the film’s protagonists intersect. All of these stories of failures and successes enlighten the life of the film’s absent fifth protagonist: Schumacher.
The film is in partnership with the Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière (ICM), the neurological research foundation begun by various members of the FIA, including Jean Todt and Michael Schumacher. Apparently, the ICM becomes something of a sixth ghostly protagonist, ever present in the background.
It sounds like an ambitious project—something almost entirely unheard of in the racing world. You can watch the trailer for it on while you get hyped up for May.