Senna finally living his F1 dream
Racing plans halted when his Uncle Ayrton was killed in 1994 crash
Formula One driver Bruno Senna’s 18th birthday present from his family in 2001 was a pretty big deal: a sporty “fully suited-up” Audi S3 hatchback.
“In Brazil, you are only legal to drive at 18 years of age,” says the Williams-Renault racer, who is in Montreal this weekend for the Canadian Grand Prix. “So, probably from 15 years on, I was going crazy about getting the car.
“When the car was finally about to arrive, I was always going to the dealer, always trying to make (the process) go faster. But time just goes a bit slower when you pay attention to it.”
Senna, the nephew of the late, legendary racer Ayrton Senna, had been driving go-karts at the family farm from a young age, but to finally get on the road in his own car was a big deal.
“As I turned 18 years old, the same day I went to the driving school and I started the process of lessons and doing the tests,” he says in barely accented English. “I’d been studying so I didn’t do many lessons and went straight for the test, and, a month later, had the licence in my hand.”
There was one hiccup during the driving test: “One of the turns, I took too long to indicate and I lost one point for that. But fortunately I had another point that I could still get wrong before they would fail me.”
The Audi was a natural choice for Bruno, whose family is synonymous in Brazil with both racing and automaking. It was Ayrton, negotiating on behalf of the family firm, who brought the marquee to Brazil. Audi Senna would become a joint venture, turning out cars for a wide market.
When Senna got his new wheels, he didn’t want to turn the engine off. “I took the car everywhere I could. I put a few miles on it. I went to the beach, I went to the mountains. I was always driving the car whenever I could and it was my baby,” he recalls.
There was one aftermarket requirement: as a member of a highprofile, wealthy Sao Paulo family, he had to get his car armour-plated. That, in turn, necessitated a more powerful engine to compensate for the 200 kilograms of added weight.
About that time, Senna also broached a subject he’d kept quiet about in his teens: his dream to become a race driver.
Bruno was 10 when his uncle, a three-time world champion, died in a crash at San Marino in 1994. Millions lined the streets of Sao Paulo for his funeral. Two years later, Bru- no’s father, Flávio Lalli, died in a motorcycle accident. Thinking about what he was going to do in life, Bruno focused on gaining practical experience at one of the family businesses. But he found it hard to put aside his F1dreams. “It was quite tough. I mean, motor racing itself was a bit of a forbidden subject, so I had to keep it to myself for awhile,” he says. He finally shared his dream with his psychologist mother Viviane, Ayrton’s older sister. “She was more surprised than anything, to be honest.” “I kept it to myself for so long, she thought I didn’t like it anymore. When it came up — the subject of motor racing again — she thought it was something from the age — you know, ‘He’s getting his first car so he wants to be a boy-racer.’ But she quickly realized that I was very serious about it.” Senna acknowledges he lost some important racing years, but with a good strategy and structure, he has worked to overcome those difficulties (he’s been mentored by his un- cle’s friend and family confidant, former F1 racer Gerhard Berger). “And here I am; in between the best drivers in the world.” Currently ranked 13th in the F1 standings, Senna credits his uncle for his hands-on tutoring. “He was always trying to make me have the experience, instead of just telling me what to do. It was through experience he would teach me stuff, and I carry all that with me even nowadays. The technical side, as well, was very well taught by him.” To succeed in Formula One, overcoming mistakes is crucial. “It’s important for the driver to be able to forget about the mistakes and learn from them and then move on very quickly — because you have to. If you don’t, then you’re always losing to yourself.” Senna says the pressure he places on himself to perform exceeds any external criticism. “As a family, we are absolutely terrible with ourselves when we make mistakes — we are big perfectionists — and whenever I make a mis- take, I really look, maybe a little too deeply, into the mistake.”
Although he’s had many cars (the Evorawas his company car when he drove for Lotus) it was only last month that Senna walked into a Monaco Volkswagen dealership to buy his first car all on his own: a VW Polo GTi.
“My own car, that I can do whatever I want with it, this is the first one,” he says, delighted.
Senna had met the dealer previously and told him he was interested in the Polo but he’d been too busy to get back to him. So when he walked into the dealership, jaws dropped. (Senna says that’s likely because the Polo is not VW’s most expensive model.)
He says he felt like any novice car buyer. “When I went there, I didn’t know exactly what to do. I didn’t know what documents I needed. I didn’t know what payments I needed to do. It was kind of a new thing for me, but fortunately it all went smoothly and I managed to put the order in the same day.” wheels@thestar.ca