The scene that frames the whole film is not the title-deciding collision in Adelaide. It is a motorhome kitchen on the afternoon of May 1, 1994, hours after Senna’s fatal crash at Imola’s Tamburello corner, with Benetton’s 25-year-old race winner in tears and telling the people around him that he no longer wants to be a Formula 1 driver.

“Schumacher ’94 – The Birth of a Legend” launched worldwide on Netflix on October 2, directed by Christin Freitag for LEONINE Documentaries. It covers one season only, from Schumacher’s win in Brazil to the championship-deciding race in Australia, and gives roughly a quarter of its runtime to the Imola weekend that killed both Senna and Roland Ratzenberger.

The kitchen at Imola

Di Spires, who worked in the Benetton hospitality kitchen that weekend, is one of the voices who describes what happened once Schumacher came back from the circuit.

“We were actually crying in the kitchen. He said: ‘I don’t want to do this any more’. I can remember him saying that. Whether he can remember saying it, I don’t know. But he said: ‘I don’t want to do this. Why? Why did that happen to Ayrton?’ He was beside himself.”

Read also: Modric reacts to Ronaldo’s feud with Jorge Jesus

Schumacher’s manager Willi Weber, interviewed for the film, delivers the line the documentary leans on afterwards.

“After Imola, Michael was different.”

Corinna’s version carries the film

The emotional thread is held mainly by Corinna Schumacher, who appears throughout as the person watching her husband change in private. Flavio Briatore, Benetton’s team principal in 1994, delivers the title-fight version that has drawn the most attention from reviewers.

“God was watching from the sky and helped us to be World Champion.”

Read also: Portugal legend turns on Ronaldo as crisis explodes: ‘Isn’t it better to stop?’

Alongside them, Bernie Ecclestone, 1994 McLaren driver David Coulthard, German paddock reporter Kai Ebel and journalist Heiko Waßer round out an interview list that reads as a who’s who of the 1994 paddock, according to LEONINE’s own cast credits.

A title fight told from Benetton’s side

The film tracks every technical row that defined the Benetton season: the allegations over the car’s electronic systems, the Silverstone black-flag incident, Schumacher’s disqualification at Spa and the two-race ban that followed. All of it funnels into the collision with Williams driver Damon Hill in Adelaide that gave Schumacher the title by a single point.

Not every reviewer is convinced the film holds its line between tribute and journalism. Motorsport.com’s own assessment is that “Schumacher ’94” is at its strongest as emotional storytelling and weakest as reporting, presenting the controversies largely from Benetton’s perspective and leaving Hill and the team’s accusers without much airtime.

The official trailer that dropped during the Italian Grand Prix weekend in September set the tone, closing on a single caption: “One goal. One season. The start of something great.”

Read also: ‘God has given me this opportunity and talent’: Djokovic lifts a 102nd title at 39

The film is streaming on Netflix worldwide now, with the closing credits dedicated to Senna and Ratzenberger.

Read also: Lamine Yamal hits back at critics: ‘A month ago, you said I was sick’