Senna upbeat despite Renault axing

Bruno Senna holds no grudges against Renault after losing his race-seat, instead stating he is grateful for the chance they gave him…

Bruno Senna holds no grudges against Renault after he was not handed a drive for 2012, instead stating he is grateful for the chance they gave him.

The Brazilian replaced Nick Heidfeld at the Enstone outfit midway through the season and put in a solid showing considering that the team struggled in the later stages of the year.

However, Renault decided to retain neither Senna nor his team-mate, Vitaly Petrov, for the coming season, instead signing Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean. Despite this, Senna is not bitter about the situation.

“It has been pretty amazing to be honest,” he told the Norwich Advertiser.

“I mean, just to get a real chance in Formula One, and these guys gave me that chance to be in a much better position than I was at this time last year, and even in July.

“They gave me a great chance to prove what I can do and on quite a few occasions I have been very competitive, so it’s good to know that in a competitive car I can turn it out in Formula One and I think I’m looking forward to next year.”

Losing his spot may have taken the gloss off the season a touch, but the 28-year-old still looks back fondly on the experience.

“Highlights? The Belgian GP was good, Monza was nice to score my first points, Singapore was good in terms of my performance compared to my team-mate, and I think in Brazil we nailed qualifying – that was pretty awesome and I guess we showed some good speed,” he said.

“It’s always special to race your home race. It’s a very different sensation when you have all the fans rooting for you and you always want to do well in your home race.

“In F1 some years more people go and there are other years where no one changes, so it’s good to see some drivers getting a chance. I think we need to see more younger drivers getting a real chance in Formula One though, to – let’s say – freshen it up.”

This ‘freshening up’ may mean Senna is without a drive next year but the former Hispania man remains hopeful of finding a place in F1, even if it as a reserve driver.

“I don’t know yet – I’m still working on next season, but as I said I think it’s looking much better than last season at this same time and let’s hope we can have good news,” he said of his situation.

“It’s difficult to say what’s going to happen, but I’ll always have Lotus in my heart.”