Exclusive: How McLaren is carrying on the Senna legacy

Bruno Senna with the McLaren Senna at Donington Park

Senna and McLaren are two names that will be forever linked. Ayrton Senna and McLaren were hugely successful on the racetrack in Formula 1, and now the legend’s nephew, Bruno, is carrying on the tradition with McLaren Automotive.

Senna made a flying visit to Sydney last week in his role as McLaren Brand Ambassador, something he has devoted more of his time to since he ended his own racing career in 2020. While his racing career saw him reach F1, including a season with the famous Williams team, he never got to race for the team that helped his uncle to his three world titles. However, he explained that he really enjoys being part of the McLaren group and finds his new role in helping to develop its supercars incredibly rewarding.

“For sure, I mean, my dream was to race in F1 for McLaren, you know, growing up as Ayrton’s nephew, I always dreamed of racing for McLaren when I was a kid,” Senna told Torquecafe in an exclusive interview. “Didn’t get to do it, I raced in F1, but not for McLaren, unfortunately. So you know, it’s sort of like the second best thing being able to be part of the family still, 10 years now that I’ve been a part of my family.

Bruno Senna drives the McLaren Senna at Donington Park

“And, you know, we’re able to achieve a lot together. I’d never thought about it when I was racing, but when you have a bit of your input and touch on a car and people enjoy it, it’s really rewarding. You never even think about it when you’re racing, because you already think about winning races and making your car good for you but once you, once you do a car that people enjoy, it’s actually quite rewarding.”

Senna has worked with McLaren on multiple models now, starting with the P1 GTR that launched in 2015 as well as the car that carries his family’s name. The McLaren Senna, which was revealed in 2017, was the completion of a dream that Bruno said Ayrton had but was never able to fulfil during his life.

“The first car I was involved in was P1 GTR, the track version of P1, then 675LT, a bit of 720S and then a bit on McLaren Senna,” he said. “So those like, you know, those are like some cool cars and of course the McLaren Senna was a huge achievement for us as a family because Ayrton always wanted to have a car with his name on it.

“It was like something that [he always wanted to do]. You know, the NSX was like the beginning of his thing where he was trying to be involved in it, but obviously he didn’t have much more time to do something after. So, we’ve been looking for the right partner to make a car with forever and then this relationship with McLaren allowed this to happen.”

Bruno explained that the application of the Senna name to McLaren’s most track-capable road car was actually his idea, as he felt it was a suitable model to fulfil Ayrton’s dream.

“I saw the car in the design studio,” he said. “There was a clay model there and they said ‘this is like our most extreme road car, track focus and everything,’ and I was like, ‘why don’t we call it the Senna?’ And he’s like, ‘Oh’ it was sort of like a bit of a moment, where everybody’s like, not so sure. After a bit of talks, then we came to the conclusion that it was a good idea and the car came together.”

McLaren produces this one-off Senna in a tribute livery to Ayrton

He added: “So this relationship allows amazing things like this to happen. And, you know, I was racing two different championships that year, so I was not able to like be involved in the development of the car as much as I wanted to, but you know, the car, the performance of the car speaks for itself, there’s no need to make any more input on it.”

The Senna was part of McLaren Automotive’s ‘Ultimate Series’ of hypercars, joining the lineage of the F1, P1 and the recently-launched W1. Only 500 examples of the Senna were made, with a further 75 track-only Senna GTR produced. They also built five one-of-a-kind Senna GTR LM track cars to commemorate its dominance at the 1995 Le Mans 24-hours, each with a unique racing livery.