Williams announced Tuesday that Bruno Senna would drive for the team in 2012. The announcement carried far more emotional undertone than any other so far this year as Williams was the team for which Senna’s uncle, Ayrton Senna, was driving when he was killed in a crash at the San Marino Grand Prix in Imola, Italy, in 1994.
Luca Bruno/Associated PressBruno Senna arriving at a race while at the Hispania team, has joined the Williams team as a full-time driver for 2012.
“It will be very interesting to drive for a team that my uncle drove for,” Bruno Senna said Tuesday. “Quite a few of the people still here actually worked with Ayrton and I’m happy that they are now giving me the chance to prove myself here.”
Bruno had raced at the Hispania team in 2010, then finished off the season at Lotus Renault last year after the team dropped Nick Heidfeld. Until recently, a lot of people expected that Williams would continue with Rubens Barrichello, the most experienced driver in F1, who had recently said on his Twitter account that he expected good news from Williams soon.
“The circumstances of Bruno’s two seasons in Formula One have not given him an ideal opportunity to deliver consistently, so it was essential that we spent as much time with him as possible to understand and evaluate him as a driver,” said Frank Williams, the team director. “We have done this both on track and in our simulator and he has proven quick, technically insightful and above all capable of learning and applying his learning quickly and consistently. Now we are looking forward to seeing that talent in our race car.”
Ayrton Senna once said his nephew was a better go-kart racer than he was at the same age. But after his uncle was killed, Bruno’s mother, Viviane, who is Ayrton’s sister, would not allow the boy to go karting or consider a racing career anymore. As an adult, he picked up racing cars again and quickly moved up into F3, and after finishing second in the GP2 series in 2008, he began to be seriously considered by F1 teams.
Ayrton Senna had only taken part in three races at the Williams team, after leaving McLaren the previous year.