Bruno Senna has admitted he feels a release of pressure following a strong showing in Malaysia last weekend.

The Brazilian, whose uncle was the great triple world champion Ayrton Senna, has had a tough time establishing his credentials to date with part-time seats at the HRT and Renault (now Lotus) teams.

Although out-qualified for the second consecutive grand prix by his Williams teammate Pastor Maldonado in Malaysia, Senna went on to score 8 points in the race — more than the famous British team’s entire tally of last year.

“Having a good result takes some of the weight off your shoulders,” he admitted, according to the Sun newspaper.

“There will always be critics and you are never going to please everybody. But for sure, having a strong result will take some wind out of the critics’ sails.

“Hopefully I can make sure I keep having strong results to show I deserve my place here,” the 28-year-old added.

Martin Brundle, the former grand prix veteran who is now a highly respected British commentator and analyst, has revealed he is one such sceptic who has been won over.

“For the first time, I believe Bruno Senna can cut it in formula one,” he said.

“I hadn’t seen anything before that convinced me in the same way this (result in Malaysia) did.”

 HRT was a “risky team” for Bruno Senna to drive for in 2010, the Brazilian’s mother Viviane has admitted.
Senna, whose mother is the great Ayrton Senna’s sister, went on to race for Renault (now Lotus) last year and for 2012 has switched to Williams.

“What matters is that the team can give Bruno the best conditions to develop his ability,” Viviane Senna told TV Globo.

“I was not happy with Hispania. They had no spare parts, so if something was broken it would be patched up for the next race. You never knew when the next thing was going to break.

“Yes, that was a risky team,” she admitted.

Many observers see 2012 as 28-year-old Senna’s last chance to prove he is even a shadow of his late, great uncle.

Viviane insisted: “People remember Ayrton the winner, the champion, but few remember how long he took to get there.

“Bruno went from nothing to F1 in five years. It’s an unfair comparison to those who have done it (racing) for their whole lives.”

Alain Prost has revealed he has no desire to see the highly-lauded feature film about his former nemesis Ayrton Senna.
The award-winning ‘Senna’ movie focuses strongly on legendary Senna’s on and off-track rivalry with Frenchman Prost, who was portrayed as the politicking villain.

“I haven’t seen it and I don’t want to see it,” the 57-year-old told the Russian website F1News.

“I definitely don’t agree with how they went about it,” Prost explained. “I spent a lot of time trying to explain to the makers that they are wrong.”

The Frenchman was also asked about the late Ayrton’s nephew Bruno, who in 2012 will race for Williams-Renault, a combination that in 1993 powered Prost to the last of his four titles.

“Bruno is a great guy and I mean that sincerely,” he said.

“I cannot judge his ability as a driver, because it’s premature to talk about that, but he is a good person.”

 The Senna family is fully supportive of the famous name’s return to Williams.
18 years ago, Brazil was in mourning over the death at the wheel of a Williams of the great Ayrton Senna.

The tragedy also halted for many years the young Bruno Senna’s formative karting career, as the sporting world’s attention moved to Italian courtrooms, where Williams bosses were accused of manslaughter.

So almost two decades on, how did the Senna family – including Ayrton’s once grief-stricken and angry parents and sister – react to Tuesday’s news that their grandson and son had inked a deal to drive for Williams in 2012?

“Everybody is ecstatic,” the 28-year-old told reporters.

“I spoke to my grandparents before even I spoke to my mother (Viviane) yesterday when I got the news and my grandmother was so happy, my grandfather had a great laugh.

“In the family everybody is smiling, everybody has worked very hard for it. It’s very much a family business in our case and we have a great unity and everyone is super-happy about it,” insisted Senna.

His next responsibility is to safeguard the reputation of the family’s name, after his first two seasons with HRT and Renault did not set the F1 world alight.

And Bruno also faces the task of shaking off “the stigma” of being arguably a pay-driver, Ayrton Senna’s 1994 teammate Damon Hill said on Tuesday.

But Senna insists he is not a pay-driver.

“Initially they (Williams) wouldn’t even talk about any type of sponsorship. They just wanted to assess me before anything else,” he said.

“The only way they would ever give me this chance was if they were comfortable with my performance.”

According to former F1 driver Luciano Burti, however – now a pundit for Brazil’s TV Globo – the situation is “not ideal” for Williams.

“For Bruno it’s very good for him to be able to continue his career. As for Williams, at least theoretically the situation is not ideal.

“The team now has two inexperienced drivers, although in practice Maldonado has shown some speed and Bruno has also shown that he can do a good job,” he said.

(Yalla F1) Twenty years ago, on October 20th 1991, Ayrton Senna won his third world championship in Japan, bringing joy to millions of fans all over the world as he did so.

The overcoming of such great challenges and the intense battles fought out on track throughout that great season make up part of the Brazilian driver´s legendary figure, whose shine remains strong to this day.

Now, for the first time fans will have the chance to virtually relive the Senna experience racing to the limits on race tracks around the world, as Reiza Studios is proud to announce a partnership with the Ayrton Senna Institute to develop a new Game for Windows – PC.

With the recently released Game Stock Car, the Brazilian developer has already demonstrated its capacity to combine professional level simulation with first-class gameplay, in order to create the most realistic and immersive racing games.

The new project will see Reiza going beyond, combining a brand new Game engine with a meticulous research process – passion and technical perfectionism in the best Senna style, to recreate in all its details a magic era in racing, when Ayrton wrote his history

The new Reiza project will also have a social purpose, as part of the revenue will be destined to the various educational programs developed by the Ayrton Senna Institute all over Brazil, which every year benefits over 2 million children and youngsters with quality public education.

The Ayrton Senna Game is currently under development and is predicted to be released at the end of 2012.

 Jenson Button’s push to prominence at McLaren has been a deliberate attempt to build the famous team around him.
Many commentators viewed the 2009 world champion’s arrival last year to be the highly rated Lewis Hamilton’s new teammate as akin to walking into “the lion’s den”.

But less than two seasons later, Button is poised to beat the beleaguered Hamilton in the drivers’ standings and has signed a new multiple year contract.

The 31-year-old has also driven for Williams, Renault and Honda/Brawn, but it is his tenure at McLaren that is arguably attracting the highest plaudits.

Asked what the secret is, Button revealed: “It’s a lesson I learned many years ago.

“If you look back at F1 there are certain drivers that would always try and build a team around them and it helped them,” he is quoted by The Sun.

“Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost did that, but I suppose Michael Schumacher was the first one of our generation to really do that.

“It was not something I thought about myself when I was younger. But it’s one thing I remember about David Richards when he was team principal at BAR.

“He said ‘Jenson, you have very good speed, but other drivers out there do a much better job of surrounding themselves with the right people and really working at it with the team’. That definitely did stick with me,” he explained.

The appointment of Bruno Senna has already delivered two new sponsors to the Renault team.

With Nick Heidfeld contentiously stepped down before Spa-Francorchamps, Senna fended off speculation his sponsors had paid for the race seat.

“If you look at the team then there are no new logos on the car or on myself,” he insisted.

But that was before Sunday, when on the grid Brazil’s Globo Esporte spotted two new logos.

One belongs to the major Brazilian oil company OGX, headed by business baron Eike Batista da Silva who is the eighth richest person in the world.

A spokesman for Senna, the nephew of Brazil’s famous triple world champion Ayrton Senna, confirmed the deal with the holding company EBX.

The other new logo on the black Renault in Belgium was the razor brand Gillette.

Globo said both sponsors “were negotiating with (Senna) for the 2012 season” but the Heidfeld replacement “accelerated the deals”.

After impressively qualifying seventh at Spa, Senna finished outside the points due to smashing into Jaime Alguersuari at the first corner and receiving a drive-through penalty.

He will definitely race at Monza next weekend.

Sebastian Vettel’s rise to the top of formula one has been meteoric, but three other grand prix drivers achieved even more in their first 73 races.
That is the finding of the veteran Swiss correspondent for Blick newspaper, Roger Benoit.

Vettel, 23, is the youngest ever race and title winner in F1 history and very likely to add a second consecutive championship to his impressive tally in 2011.

But in terms of how much he has achieved in his first 73 grands prix, Sir Jackie Stewart ranks slightly higher with his 18 race wins and two titles in the same period.

Vettel, by comparison, has only one title and 16 wins.

Achieving even more than Stewart in the 73-race period was Michael Schumacher, who had 19 wins and two titles.

And Damon Hill tops that list, amassing a single championship but no fewer than 21 wins within 73 races — an almost 30 per cent strike record.

However, Vettel has achieved more in his career so far than had Alain Prost, Lewis Hamilton, Niki Lauda, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen in the same period, while the great Ayrton Senna in his first 73 races won just 13 times and had failed to secure a title.

Nigel Mansell, meanwhile, only won his first grand prix at the 72nd attempt, while Mika Hakkinen was approaching his 100th race before he finally broke through at Jerez in 1997.

The FIA is keeping a close eye on the aftermath of Lewis Hamilton’s Monaco grand prix.

After the McLaren driver’s two penalties for crashes in the Principality, he returned to the track late on Sunday to explain his ‘Ali G’ remark to the stewards.

It is believed the British team feared Hamilton, 26, was in danger of being charged of contravening Article 151c by bringing the sport into disrepute.

Indeed, the FIA told the Telegraph on Monday that it was “gathering all the relevant information” about the incident.

So also on Monday, the 2008 world champion appeared in British newspapers with further explanations of the Monaco aftermath, and apologised to Pastor Maldonado and Felipe Massa via his Twitter account.

In his post-race tirade, Hamilton had labelled the pair “ridiculous” and “stupid”.

“Hey guys,” he wrote. “I wanted to apologise for last weekend’s performance and also my comments after, I never meant to offend.”

The Briton said he had “respect” for some of the “angry messages” he had received since Sunday.

“To Massa and Maldonado, with the greatest respect I apologise if I offended you. Both of you are fantastic drivers who I regard highly.

“To my fans lost and my fans won, I wish you nothing but love and happiness,” he tweeted.

Quoted by British newspapers, meanwhile, Hamilton explained that his loss of temper was a reflection of his racing style.

“I don’t do it to offend people or to hurt anyone. I do it because I love racing. I feel like I can do it better than others,” he said.

He also said his desire to succeed in Monaco, the past playground of his hero Ayrton Senna, is higher than ever.

“In my heart of hearts I believe I can own this circuit,” said Hamilton. “I feel like I can be the fastest here. I was, and not with the fastest car.”

Fascinatingly, he also revealed that his defiance began long before he spoke with reporters after the chequered flag on Sunday.

“I got hit (in the race) and my rear wing was hanging off and I was asked to come in and retire, and I refused,” said Hamilton. “The first pitstop I was asked to pit and no one was there. So all the tension just boiled up.”

Perhaps tellingly, Jenson Button declined to comment on his teammate’s weekend, and when told he is aware of Hamilton’s character he responded: “No, I don’t.”

Alain Prost will be the ex-driver representative on the stewards’ panel in Monaco this weekend.
It is the four time world champion and former team owner’s second appearance in the role, after kicking off the FIA’s driver representative era in Bahrain last year.

Prost, now 55, is one of the most successul drivers in F1 history; his 51 wins bettered only by Michael Schumacher’s 91.

He dominated in Monaco between 1984 and 1986, and also won in 1998 when his arch-nemisis Ayrton Senna crashed at Portier whilst easily leading.

It also emerged in Monte Carlo on Wednesday that the FIA has installed “higher kerbs and speed bumps” to stop drivers from short-cutting the chicanes at the tunnel exit and the Swimming Pool.

At the same time, teams were struggling to get their motorhomes up and running after being delayed by the Ste-Devote fire.

Adrian Newey has revealed he would like to see Mark Webber stay with Red Bull Racing in 2012.
Along with other key players including designer Newey and team boss Christian Horner, Sebastian Vettel’s contract for next year and beyond was recently extended.

34-year-old Webber, however, is currently scheduled to leave the dominant team at the end of the season, with bosses wanting to gauge his motivation and performance at a later date.

The Australian has struggled to match runaway championship leader Vettel’s pace so far in 2011, with team driver manager Helmut Marko admitting recently that the young German alongside Lewis Hamilton would be a “fantasy” pairing.

“Crikey,” Newey responded in an interview with the Guardian.

“I’m hoping Mark continues next season. Apart from being a great person, his contribution has been significant. He’s been a pillar of the team from the start.

“Seb is very perceptive in his feedback in some regards and Mark is very perceptive in other areas. We listen to both and it helps the car,” the Briton added.

He admitted Webber has struggled recently but is now “closing the gap” to Vettel.

“At the moment he (Vettel) is really on top of his game. It’s certainly not a case that Mark has been driving any slower — that’s for sure. Mark’s just taken a bit longer to adapt to the Pirelli tyres but the gap is closing.”

He said the drivers felt the enormous pressure of last year’s championship battle and also revealed that he was affected physically by the death of Ayrton Senna in 1994.

“The little hair I had all fell out in the aftermath,” said Newey, who designed the Williams that Senna raced at Imola. “So it changed me physically.”

He believes Senna’s crash was caused by a puncture rather than a failed steering column but is nonetheless reluctant to see the new film about the great Brazilian’s career.

“No. It would not be an easy thing to do,” said Newey.

As F1 tries to improve itself with better promotion, more overtaking and a glitzier ‘show’, Mark Webber has rued one element missing from today’s era.

The Australian admitted that he would like drivers to be allowed to hold and wave a national flag from their cockpits after winning a race.

“That was beautiful,” said Webber, referring to the practice that was banned some years ago on safety grounds as well as in deference to the sport’s now strict post-race procedures.

But he argues: “It was always a great moment to watch Ayrton Senna with the Brazilian flag and Nigel Mansell with the Union Jack. It was a good message for the sport and the fans — and it looked great and showed passion.

“Now the winning procedure is to take off the helmet, hurry on to the podium, hurry off the podium – boom, boom, boom – and then we go home,” the Red Bull driver told F1′s official website.

Bruno Senna looks to have bowed out of formula one after a single season.
HRT team boss Colin Kolles admitted on Friday that the Brazilian, whose uncle was the late and great Ayrton Senna, will not be Narain Karthikeyan’s teammate at the Spanish team in 2011.

“I can definitely say that Mr Bruno Senna is not going to race for HRT. 100 per cent not,” Kolles told Reuters news agency.

He said HRT’s other 2010 drivers Christian Klien and Sakon Yamamoto are still in the frame, but did not mention Karthikeyan’s Indian countryman Karun Chandhok.

And admit speculation Vitantonio Liuzzi looks set to be ousted by Force India, Kolles told Autosport that HRT might field a “surprise” for the second cockpit because “maybe some drivers who have contracts might not have seats”.

Ron Dennis has named Mika Hakkinen’s near-fatal crash in 1995 as the worst memory in his long McLaren career.

The 63-year-old, for a long time the Woking based team’s F1 principal and still the executive chairman and shareholder, said his first title as boss – with Niki Lauda in 1984 – is his best memory.

“The finest moment?” Dennis is quoted by Turun Sanomat in Finland. “Of course I should say it was the last championship with Lewis, but for me it was the first one with Niki.”

The Briton did not hesitate when contemplating his lowest point.

“The worst was when I had to go to a hospital in Adelaide after Mika’s accident,” revealed Dennis. “There was a possibility that a driver had died in my car.

“Fortunately that never happened,” he added.

Dennis named Hakkinen, Lewis Hamilton and Ayrton Senna as McLaren’s best drivers.

“Mika I choose for his honesty, Lewis for his uncompromising attitude, and Ayrton because of his passion,” he said.

Nigel Mansell is the latest to wade into the Lotus debate, insisting he is “delighted” to see the name “return to formula one” by partnering with the Renault team.

Briton Mansell drove iconic Lotus F1 cars in the 80s before moving on to Ferrari and finally winning the title in a Williams in 1992.

“It is particularly pleasing for me to see the union of Lotus and Renault again and the return of the iconic Black and Gold colours as driven by the late greats Ayrton Senna and Elio de Angelis, Johnny Dumfries and of course, myself in the 80s,” he said.

Mansell’s comments coincide with the publication of the abandoned black and gold livery that would have adorned the ‘Team Lotus’ cars next year amid the naming dispute with the separate Tony Fernandes camp.

The comments also coincide with the issuing of a statement by the family of Lotus’ late founder Colin Chapman, whose famous black cap was proudly displayed on the pitwall by Fernandes’ team in 2010.

But Chapman’s son Clive said the family thinks the “Team Lotus name should not be used in formula one”.

“Indeed, assurances to this effect were received (last year),” he added.

Chapman said the family supported the Fernandes team when the Lotus Racing name was used with the consent of Group Lotus.

“However, then its license to use the Lotus name was terminated and things changed,” he confirmed, adding that his family now backs Group Lotus as “the ongoing Lotus entity created by Colin and Hazel Chapman”.

Mansell also recalled Colin Chapman in his statement posted on Group Lotus’ official website.

“I am extremely grateful to Lotus and especially to Colin Chapman, who was so inspirational and almost like a second father to me and have been watching with great interest the developments that have been taking place recently at Hethel with their ambitious race and road car projects.

“I am really delighted to see that Lotus is back where it belongs competing with the best in the top echelons of motor sport,” he added.