Kimi Antonelli had an exceptionally special build-up for the São Paulo Grand Prix of Formula 1 last week. Before heading to Interlagos, he was invited by the Senna family to visit the farm in Tatuí, where a number of items never before seen from Ayrton’s career are kept.
The young Mercedes driver has always shown himself to be a big fan of the Brazilian three-time champion. He even wears the number 12 as a tribute and has already revealed that in 2027, when he could choose No. 1 as the champion, he intends to keep the same number.
Then, in an interview for the F1 Beyond the Grid podcast, Bruno Senna detailed how the visit unfolded. “We had known for some time that he was a big fan of Ayrton, and also of his father; Marco and I met him in Imola, in 2024. We reached out to him and offered the opportunity to visit the farm, because we knew he would enjoy it. We took him to see the farm. We showed him the small room where Ayrton built his model airplanes, and he loved it.”
Bruno also shared a funny moment about how Kimi “didn’t want to leave” the 1986 Lotus. “That was quite amusing; I was talking about next year, when Lotus or McLaren might want to do something, we could try to arrange for him to drive one of those cars, because he fits the car very well.”
“His height is perfect for that. His father said, ‘I don’t know if you can drive a car with a manual transmission,’ and Kimi replied, ‘Of course I can.’ In the end, we headed to the karting track Ayrton designed,” he continued.
“The track was very dirty, full of stones. Kimi managed to create an ideal rhythm and maintain it very consistently. It was truly impressive. He couldn’t even move 10 cm off the track, because then you can’t stay on the ideal line – you’d end up in the grass and spin, given how dirty the track was. It was an incredible experience and it showed why he is a world champion.”
