'Senna' is available on Blu-ray and DVD from 7th December
Bruno Senna is a Brazilian Formula One racing driver and the nephew of the late, three-time Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna. His mother is Ayrton's sister, Viviane, and like his uncle, Bruno displayed racing talent at an early age. After events at Imola in 1994, however, Bruno stopped racing only re-entering the sport in 2004. During the 2011 Formula One season, he’s working as the test and reserve driver for the Lotus Renault GP team.
Below he talks about his uncle and his reaction to the film, Senna, a documentary charting Ayrton’s rise to become a triple World Champion, his battle against the sport’s hierarchy and events leading up to his tragic death at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. Directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by James Gay-Rees and screenwriter Manish Pandey, Senna won the 2011 World Cinema Documentary Audience Award at this year’s Sundance Festival…
Where did you first see the movie, in Cannes last year with the rest of the family?
I first saw the film in Brazil, where they had a premiere in Sao Paolo. That’s where I got the first taste of the movie, which was a little later than the rest of my family.
How did you feel when you saw the movie, both happy and a little sad?
The movie brought me so many memories and in general the memories were good because I had a pretty good idea of what Ayrton’s life was like. I knew the movie was quite strong, because my mum and Bianca [Ayrton’s aunt] had told me before. So I came prepared for the impact, but in fairness there is nothing that can prepare you for this movie. You go there, you watch it and it strikes you so hard. I learned a lot of things that I didn’t know and it made me really happy to see some parts of Ayrton that I hadn’t known very well, because I was so young. It also made me sad to see how some things are within the world of sport, that sometimes things are not really hidden, as you see from the footage in the movie.
What specifically did you learn from the film?
I learned a lot about the family itself. How close he was with members of the family, and how hard it was for them and for Ayrton, when he was away. It was quite a revelation for me to see how close he was to my grandfather and grandmother. Also, outside of the family environment it was interesting to see him just trying to do the right thing in Formula One and to see his battle with the business and how much he liked racing but didn’t really like the politics of the sport. All these things are very evident in the movie and it was interesting to see how he fights against these powerful forces.
More than one filmmaker has approached your family in the past, asking to make a film about Ayrton’s life. Why did the family support this film?
They came with a good proposal for the movie and a storyline of what the movie would be, so from the beginning there was a good connection. And then as the movie was coming to together, Bianca, and my mum, could see what they were doing and really fell in love with the movie and how they were pulling it together. I think they succeeded because they have the right personality and when I finally managed to meet Manish, and then the other guys, I could see that they were really good people. They had love for both Ayrton and the sport. It shows in the results of the movie: you can see their passion.
Do you have any favourite moments from the film?
I think the things that struck me the most were when you see him and Ballestre discussing some of the regulations during the driver’s briefing and also the interview with Jackie Stewart where Ayrton was a bit angry about them questioning his antics on the race track. It is quite interesting to see someone discussing that with the interviewer during the interview.
What are your earliest memories of Ayrton?
It’s hard to say. I think it was in the late 1980s, when he was just joining McLaren. He used to bring quite a few bits and pieces from Japan for us, when we were about aged seven or eight. He was racing with Honda, so he’d go to Japan and bring us stuff back. For us in Brazil at the time, it was very different. Getting stuff from abroad was very rare, so we’d look forward to those visits.
What sort of things did he bring back for you?
Many things. Sometimes, those hand fans from Japan, and some cool electronics that were like 1,000 years ahead of what we had in Brazil. So it was interesting for us, who had never been out of Brazil, to see this different stuff.
Were you able to attend any of Ayrton’s F1 races?
I went to the 1993 and 1994 Brazilian Grand Prix; 1993 was the first contact I had with Grand Prix.
You raced karts when you were young, long before you started your own F1 career, so do you recall any racing advice that Ayrton gave you back then?
We used to play together and he used to teach me stuff about racing lines. One time I remember we were playing together on the track and he was trying to teach me about overtaking manoeuvres. He was showing me that overtaking on the outside is a bit risky. So every time he’d protect his inside line, I’d brake early so that I could overtake on the outside and he’d just push me off the track! That was funny; he was trying to teach an eight-year-old how not to overtake on the outside by pushing him off the track. It didn’t work though, because now whenever I have the opportunity I overtake on the outside!
You stopped racing for a long while after Ayrton’s crash at Imola. Did you want to stop racing then, or was it more the family that preferred you to stop?
I never stopped wanting to race; it was never my choice to stop. It was for the respect of my family and I was only ten years old so I could not really fight against the family’s will. If I could have continued racing I would have. I think the driver’s point of view is very different from the outsider’s point of view and the spectator’s point of view. And while everyone saw it as a huge risk, it didn’t really change how I viewed motor racing. Even now, it is just one of those things that happen. Who knows, if you were doing something else the same thing might happen? So it’s just one of those things.
Do you think motor-sport is in your blood, Bruno, or was it Ayrton’s success that turned you onto racing?
It’s hard to say. Ayrton was a huge influence of course on my decision to be a race driver, but I think I was just exposed to the motor racing bug as a kid and I was crazy about it. I never did it under obligation, or because I felt as though I should. I was never forced into it; it was always coming from me, even when I was very little and playing with toy cars. I just loved it and I think even now it is something that I really want to do.
Do you recall the moment you realised that you had a natural talent for racing?
I was already very quick with the go-karts, even when I was very young and when I came back to motor racing in 2004/2005 it was obvious that I was still very quick, but far too inexperienced. I made way too many mistakes and these are things than you can only really combat with experience. So when experience and speed could come together I became quite successful.
One of the great aspects of the Senna movie is the insight into Ayrton’s spiritual connection to the sport. Were you and the wider family very aware of that when he was racing?
Yes. It was quite interesting because I used to speak to my mum a lot about his career and his life, so I had a pretty good inside view of what was going on with his career. Even when we were together he was always on the phone and always involved with his racing career. On one level there was a conflict happening – you could see that it affected him deeply and it was something that was a part of him as much as it damaged him as well. It hit him very hard inside and it is very interesting to see this shown in the movie.
