Return of Senna to Formula One?Bruno Senna in Talks with F1 Teams over Drive in 2009.
"If you think I'm good, just wait until you see my nephew", claimed the late three time world champion, Ayrton Senna in 1993.
Fifteen years later, nephew Bruno is on the verge of bringing the Senna name back to the top tier of motor sport, as Toro Rosso look for a new driver for 2009. Bruno, who sports the familiar Senna colours of yellow, green and blue on his helmet, finished runner-up in Formula one's feeder series GP2 this season. Second in GP2 after only Three years back in Racing.His performances in the series this year have led to talks with many Formula one teams, including Toro Rosso who look to replace Red Bull bound Sebastian Vettel for next year. Toro Rosso owner Gerhard Berger, a close friend to Ayrton and team mate at Mclaren during the early 1990's, is known to have a close relationship with Bruno, but has not yet made any public intention to bring him into the team. His Toro Rosso team have been one of the surprise packages of this year and gained their first win ever at last months Italian Grand Prix at Monza, doing so before their 'parent' team Red Bull. Even so, Toro Rosso remains up for sale but look set to remain until next season at least, the perfect opportunity for Senna to make his name in formula one and prove he can walk in the footsteps of his idol and Uncle Ayrton. Ayrton always knew that his nephew was good.Bruno was just a young boy of ten years old when the infamous accident happened at the 1994 San Marino grand prix, causing the death of one of the best drivers the sport has ever seen and momentarily Bruno's racing dreams. The tragic death of Ayrton understandably hit Bruno and his family hard, how could Bruno now go into a sport that took away the uncle he raced go-karts with and man he looked up to and idolised as a child? But Bruno never lost the desire to race. It was in his blood. After years of staying away from motor racing, ultimately the racing urge that was similarly inbred in his uncle took over and Bruno wanted to race again. At eighteen years of age Bruno decided he wanted to return to the sport he had stayed away from in respect of his family. They for obvious reasons had not wanted him involved in a sport that had already caused them such pain, but Bruno had decided he was going to be a racer and even to this day Bruno's grandfather does not want to hear of his achievements. Berger, Bruno's guiding light.It was under the guidance of close family friend Berger that Bruno re ignited his career heading to Britain in 2004 for the British Formula BMW championship British F3 and GP2, competing with the obvious pressure of his uncle's legacy on his shoulders. Berger will continue to guide Bruno with his career, whether it is with him at Toro Rosso or somewhere else and deserves credit for guiding such a great talent, with such pressure on him, to the pinnacle of motor sport. Whether Bruno can match Ayrton's record of three world championships is a lot to ask, but to most motor sport fans seeing the return of the Senna name to the sport will be the biggest tribute to the man it misses the most and surely, it is only a matter of when, not if, we see that famous Senna legacy return to Formula one.
The copyright of the article Return of Senna to Formula One? in Auto Racing is owned by Steve Garland. Permission to republish Return of Senna to Formula One? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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