'I made the Senna name proud'

Bruno Senna outqualified Fernando Alonso and Vitaly Petrov in his first qualifying session for Renault © Sutton Images

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Bruno Senna said he felt he'd made the Senna name proud at the Belgian Grand Prix, after qualifying seventh on his first competitive outing in a Renault.

The nephew of Ayrton Senna set the seventh fastest time in wet conditions to beat not only his team-mate but also the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso. After being drafted in with very limited track time to replace Nick Heidfeld last week, he said the result had exceeded expectations.

"[It was] a lot better [than I expected] but I didn't know what to expect to be honest," he told journalists at Spa-Francorchamps. "This morning after being P9 in the wet and in straight forward conditions in terms of everybody going out and doing laps, I was confident that in the wet that we could do a good job. When the conditions were changing for qualifying and getting a bit drier I was really nervous because of course I knew that yesterday it was very, very difficult for me in the dry conditions.

"But to get into Q3 was a massive victory for me and then I knew that I could push, especially on the last few laps because I had not much to lose. I didn't want to make a mistake of going off and crashing, so in that sense I wasn't pushing 100%, but I was pushing where I knew I could push and get away with it - maybe out-braking myself a little bit. I think where other people made mistakes I didn't and the result is that."

He added: "My mum is very happy, my grandparents are very happy. I guess I made the Senna name proud."

Senna had to deal with KERS glitches in the first two sessions, but said he was already feeling confident with the car.

"I had to keep turning KERS on and off, and the last thing you want on a qualifying lap is a KERS problem," he said. "But finally in the end the KERS was working and that didn't present too much of a problem, but in Q1 and Q2 I had that. It shows that I am already quite comfortable with the procedures."

But Senna was keen not to get ahead of himself and pointed out that it was only one qualifying session.

"It was obviously a good start," he added. "But it was in very tricky conditions and some drivers will be faster in different conditions. I seemed to be very fast in these conditions fortunately, but there is still lots to prove. I want to be consistently good and if I can be then I can make my career.

He also pointed out the Petrov, who qualified tenth, could have been faster.

"It's great to out-qualify your team-mate," Senna added. "Vitaly unfortunately made a mistake so it would be great to see more of a comparison. I think tomorrow he has the upper-hand on me in terms of race experience, especially if the race is dry."

Asked whether this answered some of his critics from last year when he was at the back of the grid with HRT, Senna said: "The only way to answer those things is to drive well and I think I've done a good job today so it takes some of the questions away."

He joked: "I have to keep doing it until I'm a professional Formula One driver!"

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