Senna keen to make his own name in F1

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.