LONDON, (Reuters) – Bruno Senna has carried a burden of expectation ever since he first stepped into a racing car and it will only grow heavier when he makes his Formula One debut next year.
With a surname like his, it goes with the territory.
Even if he would rather be more anonymous, enjoying the thrill of driving without media attention, the 26-year-old Brazilian has no qualms about following in the footsteps of his late uncle Ayrton.
“I’ve always had the weight of expectation and demand and pressure on me,” he told Reuters in an interview after returning from a formal presentation in Spain by his new Campos Meta team.
“From my first race I have always had TV crews, people giving their opinions about my driving when I had no experience whatsoever, comparing me to three times world champion Ayrton when I was in my first year in Formula Three.
“It’s always been like this. It’s not fair necessarily, but it’s the way that the world is.
“I know that it will become much stronger in Formula One because I’ll be much more exposed to everybody’s opinions,” added the Sao Paulo driver.
“I have to believe in myself, I have to set feasible and reasonable goals. I have had to learn how to do that and now I am pretty confident I can do it.”
Senna was 10-years-old the day Ayrton, idolised worldwide as one of the greatest racers ever, died in the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix at Italy’s Imola racetrack — a tragedy that remains Formula One’s last driver fatality.
Millions mourned his passing then and do so still.
PASSION FOR SPEED
The tragedy, and the late champion’s iconic stature, are part of Bruno Senna’s magnetism for the media but he had a passion for speed already before that May afternoon.
“I was watching the race at home,” recalled Bruno, who had raced Ayrton in go-karts on their own track. “I was only 10 and in my head he (Ayrton) was going to just get up, walk out of the car and shrug it off.
“Things obviously didn’t turn out that way and the phone started ringing, my mum goes here and there and we see the whole situation is more serious.
“It was a sad moment, because I was losing someone from my family and my reference in my career, but in terms of my love for cars and motor racing it didn’t change me,” he added. “If I could have continued, I probably would have.”
Bruno’s father, who was married to Ayrton’s sister Viviane, died in a motorcycle crash the following year and family opposition stalled the youngster’s racing ambitions.
It took him a decade to get back on track but when he did it was with older sister Bianca as his manager and with the support of his mother.
“Especially in the beginning, there was a lot of resistance from my family. My mother didn’t really believe it was very serious, my grandfather was completely against it,” he said. “So it was a bit of a difficult start.