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A talented youngster, Senna began karting when he was five, often beating his uncle in races at the family farm. However, when Bruno's father Flavio Lalli died in a motorcycle crash in 1996 two years after Ayrton's death at Imola in 1994, his mother Viviane Senna Lalli made her son hang up his helmet.

He stayed away from the sport for the best part of ten years, but unable to ignore his passion for racing, started again aged 20, and in just his third race he qualified second in the British Formula BMW Championship. Then, at the 2004 Brazilian Grand Prix ten years after his uncle's death, he drove demonstration laps in a replica of Senna's old Lotus 98T, and the talk of his future in F1 started in earnest.

After just five races in the BMW series he moved up to British Formula 3 for a year, before graduating to GP2. After a year racing with Red Bull feeder team Arden International, he moved to iSport International, finishing runner-up in the championship behind veteran Giorgio Pantano.

His first taste of F1 came in November 2008, testing for Honda. Senna was expected to join Jenson Button on the grid for 2009, but when Honda announced they were withdrawing from the sport and Ross Brawn stepped in to buy the ailing team, Brazilian veteran Rubens Barrichello was the preferred choice for the newly-formed Brawn team.

A season on the sidelines followed although he did compete in the Le Mans 24 Hours and the Le Mans Series. In 2010 he got his big break, signing for the new Campos team that later became HRT. Without any pre-season testing he took to the track in Bahrain for his first grand prix but retired when his car overheated. He retired from eight more grands prix that year and was dropped by HRT in favour of Sakon Yamamoto at the British Grand Prix.

In 2011 he was dropped for good by HRT and appeared to be sidelined until surprisingly being named as Renault's reserve. At the Belgian Grand Prix he was promoted to race driver, after Nick Heidfeld failed to live up to the team's expectations, and qualified seventh on his first attempt in the R31. The car was difficult to drive in the latter half of the season, however, and despite showing up well against his team-mate Vitaly Petrov both drivers were axed. But, aided by a multi-million pound package he brought to the team, he replaced Rubens Barrichello at Williams in 2012.

Strengths and Weaknesses
He missed out on lots of formative karting experience in his early teens, but the fact that he made it as far as GP2 on merit is testimony to his natural talent. However, his name is his biggest selling point and that ultimately got him his first drive in F1.

Career High
Qualifying seventh on his Renault debut in difficult conditions at Spa Francorchamps.

Career Low
Following the death of his father in a motorbike accident in 1995, just a year after his uncle Ayrton's death at Imola, Bruno's mother Viviane Senna Lalli forced the 11-year-old to retire from the sport. He did not return to racing until 2004.

Quotes
"If you think I'm good, wait until you see my nephew Bruno." Ayrton Senna, 1993

"Of course the name helps me, but my uncle can't drive the car for me - I have to do that myself. No-one's going to give me a drive if they don't think I can handle it. He was a great example to me in many ways and I'm trying to stay true to the way he approached life. But I don't think about him when I'm racing, I don't need him to inspire me - I'm a racing driver because I love motor racing, I love competition. Ayrton Senna was my uncle, but I am my own man."

Trivia
In October 2006, Senna appeared on Sky One show Vroom Vroom, where each week he would race a different car to the top of a multi-storey car park.

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