Senna: The more I can drive, the better.

Bruno Senna, the racing heir to his legendary uncle, is defending the Rebellion colours in the FIA WEC championship and recently helped McLaren release a car that bears his family name. Aside from that, with a track record as long as his, it seems that there isn’t a race car he hasn’t driven.

 

 

 

Not only have you driven a lot of cars, you seem to mix a lot of them during the same season, switching from Formula E to an Aston Martin GTE, and then back to a road car from McLaren. How do you adapt?

 

The biggest difference is often the braking points. You can brake much later in an LMP1 car than in a GT car, so it takes a couple of laps to adjust to these points. The cars are often so different that it’s impossible to get mixed up. But the best thing about it is, I spend a lot of time behind the wheel. If you do just one championship, the thing you do the least is driving.

 

Do you have a favourite car? The one that tops them all ?

 

I think the best car I’ve ever driven was the Honda F1 car I tested after the 2008 season. It was an early version of the 2009 car and wasn’t very well developed at the time. At that point in time the rules changed and the cars were running slick tires again, along with less aerodynamic aids. So it was a pretty simplified F1 car and because I was racing these Bridgestone slick tires in GP2 I knew them very well, so for me that car was just a dream to drive, so easy. That car also helped Button to win the World Championship in 2009.

 

Earlier this year McLaren released a car that bears your family name. How does that feel?

 

It’s amazing. We are so happy with the fact this happened. It all started back in 2016 when I first saw the clay model of the car and I went to McLaren and I said, ‘Guys, I’ve got an idea…’

 

 

 

So you pitched it to them?!

 

Yes! As a family we’ve had this idea for many years because it’s was Ayrton’s dream to have a car with his name on it, but it was never the right timing or I never had the right partner, and since I started working with McLaren I was sure that the moment would come. It’s a very purposeful car. It’s not built for style; it’s built for speed. For instance it’s not a hybrid, that’s to keep the weight down but the most beautiful thing is how much you feel the aero work. You can brake incredibly late because of that. It’s just perfect.

 

Having driven pretty much every racing series out there, including Formula E, you’re the best person to ask. Where do you think motorsport is going?

 

Tough question. I’m sure it will be electric but not like we have them now. With very different and more powerful batteries, and I think the cars will look more like actual road cars. A bit like the Daytona prototypes. Proper race cars with various characteristics that refer to actual road cars. To a certain point they will be a lot faster than Formula E is now, because now it doesn’t make any sense.