Why Senna's fans adopted Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton's open acknowledgement of his debt to Ayrton Senna has earned the respect and admiration of Brazilian fans - and even Senna's family, says JONATHAN NOBLE
The biggest cheers were always going to be reserved for Felipe Massa, but there were times over the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend when it was hard to believe that Lewis Hamilton was not a home-town hero too.
The cheers he got from fans whenever he was on track, the banners in the grandstands urging him on, and the warmth he was afforded by everyone, were on a level where you could be forgiven for thinking he had grown up in the favelas of Sao Paulo rather than an housing estate in Stevenage.
Share Or Save This Story
Jonathan Noble is Motorsport.com’s Formula 1 editor. Having graduated from University of Sussex Jonathan worked for sports news agency Collings Sports reporting on F1, F3, touring cars and other sports, with articles appearing in The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Reuters, Autosport and other publications. In 1999 he moved to Haymarket Publishing to become a senior editor at Autosport Special Projects, and one year later he became Autosport’s grand prix editor. In 2015 he moved to Motorsport Network, becoming the F1 editor for Motorsport.com. He is also a member of the Guild of Motoring Writers, and sits on the FIA Media Council.
More from Jonathan Noble
Russell: Mercedes locked in F1 "battle of fine margins"
Why F1 2026 worst case fears could be key to new rules success
Hamilton: Ferrari F1 switch doesn't need "vindicating"
The story behind Shanghai's "painted" F1 track surprise
Williams may as well “go home” if spares situation changes its F1 approach, says Albon
Aston Martin ‘not convinced’ Alonso would definitely want to stay in F1
What Aston Martin’s curfew burn told us about its F1 upgrade trajectory
Newey: F1’s grid to close up even more before being ‘blown apart’ in 2026
Latest news
How MotoGP brakes work: Secrets of stopping a 220mph bike
Hyundai enacts contingency plan after WRC Kenya fuel issue
Vanwall working on 2025 WEC comeback with heavily-revised Hypercar
Russell: Mercedes locked in F1 "battle of fine margins"
Autosport Plus
Why F1 2026 worst case fears could be key to new rules success
How the F1 driver market situation sits for each team with 2025 openings
What's been going wrong for Leclerc in F1's tiny margins qualifying game
What the Chinese GP's highlights reveal about its first F1 race for five years
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.