Senna looks to emulate great uncle's formula

LONDON: Brazilian driver Bruno Senna said on Tuesday he had a good chance of following his late uncle and triple world champion Ayrton into Formula One next year.

The 24-year-old finished runner-up this season in GP2, Formula One's feeder series, and said he has been talking to several grand prix teams about the possibility of graduating to their championship.

"Obviously, I had a great season in GP2, it was a season with a few highs and few lows but good enough to finish second," Senna told reporters after a Mercedes SLR event at the Nuerburgring in Germany. "And I guess it gave me good possibilities to go to Formula One next year."

"We have been speaking with quite a few teams and there is great interest from a few of them.

"So there are a few opportunities as a race driver, a few as a test driver...but there is a lot of competition and I need to come ahead of the competition right now on the negotiations and see if I can get a race drive."

Ferrari-powered Toro Rosso, race winner in Italy this month, has a definite vacancy and possibly two with Germany's Sebastian Vettel moving up to the main Red Bull team and France's Sebastien Bourdais yet to be confirmed.

That team is also co-owned by former driver Gerhard Berger, a family friend and Ayrton Senna's teammate at McLaren in the early 1990s.

"Toro Rosso is one of the possibilities in Formula One, not the only one, but it can make the whole difference and for sure he (Berger) still gives me great advice and helped all the way," said Senna.

Renault, Honda and BMW may also have changed lineups next season but any vacancies are more likely to be at test driver level.

Agencies

(China Daily 10/02/2008 page11)