Kimi Antonelli paid a visit to Ayrton Senna's nephew and nieces ahead of this weekend's São Paulo Grand Prix, describing it as an "unforgettable day"
Senna has long been the guiding inspiration behind Antonelli's career. The Italian grew up on stories of the three-time champion and has idolised him since childhood, a tribute reflected in his choice of race number.
Antonelli carries number 12, the number Senna used for part of his own career, and will keep it again next season purely to honour him.
For Antonelli, Senna is far more than a former Formula 1 driver, he is a source of inspiration. That made his visit to the Senna family all the more significant.
Upon arriving in Brazil after becoming world champion in Mexico City, Antonelli travelled with his father Marco to spend time with Bruno, Bianca and Paula Senna, Ayrton's nephew and nieces.
The new world champion shared a photo on Instagram of himself sitting in the legendary Lotus 98T, the car in which Senna won the Spanish and Detroit Grands Prix in 1986. It carried the same number 12.
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Kimi Antonelli to 'carry these memories forever'
For Antonelli, it was clearly a special and emotional visit to the Senna family. In the newly crowned world champion's Instagram post, he thanked the Senna family wholeheartedly.
Antonelli wrote: "An unforgettable day. Thank you to the entire Senna family. It will take some time to sink in, but I will carry these memories with me forever."
The Senna family also felt honoured by the visit from Kimi and Marco Antonelli.
Paula Senna shared more photos of the visit, with the following caption: "We had the pleasure of welcoming the newest world champion, Kimi Antonelli on a very special occasion: standing next to Ayrton Senna’s iconic Lotus, celebrating his victory with a very heartfelt gift, one of my sculptures of Ayrton. And we had the opportunity to see from ourselves what a special character he is.
"A connection between generations who share the same passion for motorsports and the pursuit of excellence.
"Congratulations, Kimi, on this great achievement and on the career you’ve been building on the track!"
Also interesting:
Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes, Samuel Coop and Nick Golding as they look back on Mexico City but also look ahead to this weekend's São Paulo Grand Prix! Kimi Antonelli become world champion is a lead discussion, as is the latest Ferrari drama!
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