Bruno Senna - more than just a famous name? 12 Nov 2009
If ever a driver was destined to make it into Formula One racing then you could argue it was Bruno Senna. And finally it has come to pass. The nephew of the late, great three-time champion Ayrton, Senna will make his race debut with the new Spanish team Campos Meta next season.
At the mature age of 26, by modern F1 standards Senna is not exactly young. So how did he find his way to the pinnacle of motorsport? Here’s the story of his career to date…
If ever a driver was destined to make it into Formula One racing then you could argue it was Bruno Senna. And finally it has now come to pass. The nephew of the late, great three-time champion Ayrton, Senna will make his race debut with the new Spanish team Campos Meta next season at the mature age - in modern F1 terms at least - of 26. Here’s the story of his career to date…
Like all young boys with dreams of racing, Senna tested his mettle in a kart. Of course, not all fledgling racers could stretch their legs on a private family track alongside an F1 legend of an uncle as this Brazilian did, but then not all youngsters would have to face the shock of that same uncle’s untimely death after a crash during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.
When his own father was also killed less than two years later in a motorbike accident, Senna’s life changed forever and he stopped karting and concentrated on his studies instead. For a boy who had always hoped to follow in his famous uncle’s footsteps, it was no doubt difficult to adjust to life back in the classroom, but he coped well, even starting a business degree when he left school.
But the racing bug remained, and in 2004, ten years after he had turned his back on motorsport, Senna decided to return and moved to the UK. It was a brave decision. Although his name meant he’d have no trouble finding financial backing, in the context of Fernando Alonso winning karting championships at 11 and Sebastian Vettel making his Formula One debut at 19, at 20 years-old he was already considered ancient for a novice. Ayrton’s nephew or not, many thought he’d have his work cut out.
His age, however, didn’t seem to faze the Brazilian and that season he kick started his career participating in the final three rounds of the British Formula BMW series. At Donington Park, in just his third race, he qualified second and finished sixth. That year he also competed in the non-championship Formula Renault race at Macau and took his first-ever podium with an impressive drive to second place.
In 2005 he moved onwards and upwards to the British Formula Three series, and over the season put in several strong performances, including three podiums and one pole position, to finish 10th in the championship. He stayed on for a second year of British F3 in 2006. Racing for Kimi Raikkonen’s team, Raikkonen Robertson, he enjoyed an even better season than his first.
Three pole positions, five wins, two second-places and 219 points secured him third in the championship behind British drivers Mike Conway and Oliver Jarvis. His talent behind the wheel, especially in the wet, was beyond doubt and he even found time to take part in that year’s Formula Three Masters race, finishing seventh, just behind Vettel.
It was becoming clear that Senna was more than a match for his younger, yet more experienced rivals and in 2007 he made the move up to the Formula One feeder series GP2. Racing for Arden, he acquitted himself well, taking one win and a further two podiums to finish third overall. Once again he stayed on for a second season in the series, and once again his performances improved.
Scoring six podium finishes, including two wins and three pole positions, he finished the season runner-up to Giorgio Pantano. Over the winter he’d also competed in the GP2 Asia Series, taking an additional two podiums. It seemed a Formula One drive was already a case of when, not if, and in November Honda granted him his first taste of Formula One power, inviting him to test as they eyed him as a possible 2009 driver. He covered over 140 laps of Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya as he familiarised himself with the Japanese team’s car.
Both he and the team seemed happy, but then Honda made the surprise announcement that they were withdrawing from the sport. The team morphed into Brawn GP, but the new management were understandably wary of taking too much risk, and opted to run with Honda’s existing and experienced line up of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. It looked as though Senna had missed the boat.
Bitterly disappointed, the Brazilian decided to forgo another series of open-wheeled single-seater racing for 2009, and instead focused on sports car competition, taking part in both the Le Mans 24-hour race and the Le Mans series. Behind the scenes, however, he never gave up on his Formula One dreams and in October it was announced he’d signed to race for Campos Meta, one of the four new teams set to join the grid next year.
Having already visited the factory for a seat fitting and to complete some initial tests, everything looks in place for the Formula One grid to once more be graced by the name Senna. "If you think I'm fast, just wait until you see my nephew Bruno," was a quote famously attributed to Ayrton, and with the wait nearly over it’s at last time to see if the Brazilian legend was correct. Roll on 2010!
