Bruno Senna

After the Ayrton Senna’s fatal crash in 1994, Bruno Senna was not seen on the race circuits, only to make an entry a decade later in the Formula BMW UK Series. Bruno Senna has grown steadily over the years, competing in all the stepping stone formats to Formula 1. He has been gunning for the F1 seat, but his dream was likely to remain one, until the major shuffling and new teams of 2010 came through. Bruno Senna has inked his deal with Campos Meta, assuring him his entry into F1. Although Campos Meta has signed up Senna, they have not listed their second driver, and in concerns voiced by Bernie Ecclestone, Campos may be short of operational funds, putting Bruno’s racing hopes in jeopardy.

Senna’s Formula Three career started in 2005, driving for the Raikkonen Robertson, raking in three podium finishes in the last seven races and eventually finishing tenth overall. He opted to stay on with the team for the 2006 season, and gave a blistering performance to bag five victories and finishing the season in the third position in the Drivers Standings. Bruno was well on target for the Formula 1 grid and now was looking for a upgrade from the Formula Three Series.

GP2 was the way up, and sighting an opportunity, signed up with Arden International, a Red-Bull sponsored team for the 2007 season. His debut race in Bahrain saw him finish fourth, showcasing the raw power Senna can dish out. His first victory soon followed in the feature race in Spain. The rest of the season turned out to be quite a letdown, and in the end he was only able to register one win and three podium finishes.

In his fourth season in single seater racing, and second in GP2, Bruno Senna shifted to iSport International. In a great season, Bruno coasted from one point scoring race finish to the next, bringing his tally to two wins and four podium finishes. He finished second overall, 11 points behind Drivers Championship leader Giorgio Pantano and one point adrift from third position Brazilian compatriot Lucas Di Grassi. The closely fought championship brought out the best in the young lot, and the followers had loads to cheer about.

In November 2008, Bruno Senna tested a F1 car for the first time. It was Honda who gave him the break in Barcelona, and surprisingly, he came within 0.3 seconds of the then Honda race driver, Jenson Button. Everything looked great for a season seat, until Honda decided to pull out of F1 racing owing to financial crunches. Eventually Brawn GP bought the team, and Bruno looked good to hang on to his dreams. This huge jolt to Bruno was nothing compared to the one he felt when Rubens Barrichello resigned with the team.

His bid to bag the Formula 1 race seat for the 2009 season fell through, and in wake of this Bruno Senna looked for other avenues to stay racing fit. The Le Mans Series was a new outlet to his thirst for speed, and after testing the Oreca LMP1 car, joined up to race for the 24 hour Le Mans. In his first race, The 1000 Km race of Catalunya, he finished third with co-driver Stephane Ortelli.

At the last race on the F1 calendar 2009, Campos Meta confirmed signing up Bruno Senna for the 2010 season. This is the brightest ray of hope in the young lad’s career, but lurking in the background are some major issues which Campos will have to address in order to see their team on the starting grid in 2010. Bruno Senna, will have to keep his fingers crossed, the last year’s ghosts are still lurking around!