Bruno Is Ready

"Tomorrow can't come soon enough," says Bruno Senna, rubbing his hands with glee, "I just want to get in that car."

Bruno has been sat on the sub's bench for 11 long races. Having made his grand prix debut with HRT last year he was signed up to be Lotus Renault GP's third driver in 2011 – an important role, but not the one a red blooded racer yearns for. Bruno has been aching to do battle all year, and now he's been afforded the opportunity.

He's no stranger to engineering meetings and track walks, but now he's the centre of attention. "The focus you bring when you know you're racing is very different," says the 27-year-old. "It was much easier to get out of bed this morning than usual, as I have greater motivation."

The decision to replace Nick Heidfeld with Bruno was announced yesterday, but the seeds were sewn when the Brazilian enjoyed a successful Friday practice in Hungary three weeks ago, his first official outing of the year. "There was momentum growing. I think that I did a decent job in Hungary, and this got the team behind me. Getting a chance with a team like this doesn't happen everyday, I'm incredibly grateful and I am really looking forward to it."

Driving alongside Vitaly Petrov, Bruno realizes he has his work cut out but he relishes the challenge. "I can't get back the 11 races I've missed already, and I will have to work four times as hard to get good results. But everyone knows it, and no one expects me to jump in the car and beat everyone else. It needs to be done step-by-step, but I'm really confident I can do a good job for the team. I'm looking at this weekend as my first race of the year, go out and do my best."

And what a track on which to re-affirm his hunger for racing. Spa Francorchamps is the stuff of legend. A tree-lined ribbon of tarmac around the edge of an Ardennes mountain which promises high-speeds, necessitates enormous skill, and guarantees unpredictable weather conditions. "It's one of those places that you look forward to coming to every year, wet or dry", says Bruno, who won here in the junior formulae and cites it as his favourite track in the world. Only the best win here, and the Senna name has already been engraved on the F1 winner's trophy five times

"Ayrton won here five times, once in a black and gold Lotus Renault," remembers Bruno, which is impressive because he wasn't even two-years-old then. "Maybe me and Ayrton have similar genes, as we always do well here and at Monaco". Seeing that yellow helmet reunited with the evocative livery and the Lotus name in Belgium is going to be something to savour.

Just so long as he drives the right way round and keeps his Blackberry in his pocket this time! Bruno demonstrated the Lotus Renault here in April and entertained fans – including millions online – by driving up and down the treacherous Eau Rouge with just one hand on the wheel. He filmed it all on his mobile phone!