As we approach the anniversary of the death of the legendary Ayrton Senna, my attentions turn to that of his nephew, Bruno Senna Lalli and his unfair and unjust treatment in Formula 1.
There’s no escaping the fact that the death of his legendary uncle, Ayrton had a profound effect on his racing career. Before that fateful day in Imola, Ayrton taught Bruno all he knew and it was looking as if the young Brazilian was to emulate his uncle’s success. But Bruno was stopped from racing after Senna’s death, and it was a whole decade before he got back into a single seat racing car. Not to the delight of his family for that matter.
However, in 2004, Bruno competed in six races of the Formula BMW UK series for Carlin Motorsport, scoring six points. He obtained a lot of attention not only because the Senna name had returned to racing but because huge things were expected of him; when leaving McLaren at the end of 1993, Ayrton said: “If you think I’m fast, just wait until you see my nephew Bruno”. The pressure was on from the very beginning.
In 2005 he moved on to the British Formula Three International Series, driving for the Räikkönen Robertson Racing team owned by then-McLaren Formula One driver Kimi Räikkönen. His results included three podium finishes in the last seven races of the season. Things were looking good having missed out on key learning corners that a young racer must go through. He wasn’t that young either, being much older than his competitors after missing out on racing for a decade.
In October 2006 Senna was said to be targeting a seat on the Formula One grid by 2009. He signed to drive for the Red Bull-sponsored Arden International team for the 2007 GP2 Series. It was a positive season on the whole for Senna, finishing in the top 10 in only his third full year of single seater racing, with one win and three podiums. Senna switched teams for the 2008 season, moving to iSport International, where his team-mate was Karun Chandhok. He was to eventually finish runner-up in the championship to Giorgio Pantano. Nevertheless, Senna was making all the right headlines. Senna was on the verge of signing for the Honda F1 team in 2009 before they folded. However, they were revived by Ross Brawn as Brawn GP and Bruno tested alongside Rubens Barichello with the younger Brazilian coming off better. However, Brawn took the decision that Barichello, with his experience would make a better team mate alongside Jenson Button. Button later won the world championship. Without a doubt I believe Bruno would’ve provided a better challenge with his hunger and determination to prove himself and not just be known as Ayrton Senna’s nephew.
However, Bruno finally reached F1 in 2010 with the Hispania Racing team. Not a good decision. A terrible car coupled with a tense relationship with team boss Colin Kolles and multiple team mates made for a terrible season which resulted in him scoring no points and being sacked at the end of the year. Not a good start, but Bruno was not given a good enough car to show off his capabilities. He came back in 2011 with a reserve role for the Lotus-Renault F1 team after missing out on a race drive with them to replace the injured Robert Kubica. The seat eventually going to yet another more experienced driver, Nick Heidfeld. However, on 24 August it was confirmed by Renault that Senna would replace Heidfeld for the second half of the season. He qualified seventh for his first race with the team, the Belgian Grand Prix, and finished 13th after colliding with Jaime Alguersuari at the first corner, for which Senna received a drive-through penalty. He finished ninth at the Italian Grand Prix, scoring his first Formula One points. However, it’s always difficult to jump into a season halfway through and even though he gave his team mate Vitaly Petrov a run for his Russian money, it was announced that Romain Grosjean would partner Kimi Räikkönen at the team in 2012, leaving Senna without a drive.
Senna was thrown a lifeline in 2012 though and was confirmed as a Williams driver, where he was partnered by Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado. As his uncle had been racing for Williams at the time of his death, Senna first sought out his family’s blessing before joining the team. It was dubbed as Senna’s last chance to prove himself as well as his first real chance. However, giving up his car 15 times in Free Practice One for reserve driver Valteri Bottas and the fact team mate Maldonado didn’t and then won a race meant Senna was forever playing catchup. At the 2012 Belgian Grand Prix Senna scored the first fastest lap of his career after a late puncture dropped him from 8th place to 12th place. Senna finished the season 16th in the Championship on 31 points and was dropped by Williams for 2013 in favour of Finnish rookie Valtteri Bottas, which Bruno later revealed he knew would happen:
“Since the beginning of my programme with Williams I accepted that I had to share the car with Valtteri for 15 Fridays as a part of his preparation for a likely debut in 2013.” Surely going into a season knowing that would put you off your game?
He left Formula 1 and joined the World Endurance Championship with Aston Martin and was soon back to winning ways. Recently, he has confirmed he will also take part in the Formula E series starting in September.
Bruno has what it takes to become an F1 world champion, he was just never given a proper chance. Moreover, missing out on a decade of competitive racing can’t have helped. If only he had got the Brawn GP drive. Still, at least he is and will continue I’m sure to be competitive in other racing categories and live up to that famous Senna name, which definitely didn’t help with the pressure when he was in F1, constantly being judged for his surname.
Oh what might’ve been…
Thank you for reading. Please take a moment to follow me on twitter @LWOSharrybenj. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport – and “liking” our Facebook page.
Interested in writing for LWOS? We are looking for enthusiastic, talented writers to join our Motor Sports writing team. Visit our “Write for Us” page for very easy details in how you can get started today!
For the latest sports injury news, check out our friends at sports injury alert.
Main Photo:
