Bruno Senna were it to make the 2009 grid, until Rubens Barrichello was reported to have re-signed with the team. Senna decided not to sign with Mercedes for the 2009 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season "to focus completely on his Formula One chances". Bruno Senna said to the BBC in an interview that he did not want to negotiate with Lotus because of sentimental reasons as his uncle Ayrton Senna took his first win with Team Lotus. He also told the BBC that "I felt important to enter F1 now otherwise I would never be in it". He also told the BBC he
Death of Ayrton Senna competitors proceeded behind the safety car for five laps. As the Vectra was based on a family sedan and not relatively fast, Senna had pulled alongside the Vectra to gesture to its driver to speed up; this car was subsequently regarded as inadequate for the role (due to the fact that its brakes had overheated and thus had to be driven slowly, lest itself be the cause of an accident) and a cause of the alleged drop in tyre pressures of the following Formula One cars. Before the sixth lap, David Brown told Senna via pit-to-car radio that the safety