Sunday afternoon's Brazilian GP held much promise for the nephew of the mercurial Ayrton Senna, howe💦ver, Renault's Bruno Senna failed to capitalise on his sensational ninth position in qualifying, which was a victory in itself.

Instead the local hero was abruptly brought back 🌃down to earth thanks to a number of factors💜 all contributing to a disastrous Sunday afternoon.

All seemed to be going according to plan for Senna as the Renault driver maintained his ninth position from the start into the open𒅌ing laps. It was♈ on lap ten where the Brazilian's race began to unravel, however, after making double contact with the Mercedes of Michael Schumacher - no doubt whetting the appetite of the nostalgic fan - with the later of the two hits puncturing the rear left tyre of Ayrton's former nemesis.

In terms of damage, 🍸Senna came away relatively unscathed, albeit with a slighty tweaked front wing endplate, while the seven-time champion faced an agonising lap as he nursed his hobbled Silver Arrow back to the pits. The Brazilian, however, would soo﷽n face a drive-thru' penalty which would drop him down the order.

The Renault ace's afternoon was further compromised thanks to a ge💖ar🌟box problem which saw his R31 lose fourth, putting paid to any chance of climbing back up the order. Tyre degradation also played a part in his downfall after having to swap over to a three-stop strategy as opposed to his original two-stop race plan.

Senna eventually ended his home GP in 17th.

"What can I say - it's been quite a difficult day and the overall feeling is one of disappoin🐟tment," he said, "I started the race in a healthy position on the grid and I was hoping to capitalise on that, but there were many difficulties preventing us from having a better race, namely the incident with Michael and the gearbox problems.

"I would love to have give💟n my home fans something to smile about, but unfortunately it was not to be."

The young Brazilian now faces a fierce battle to keep his Renault seat, a battle which may turn out to be in vain as GP2 champion Roman Grosjean looks to have all but sealed the sought-af♋ter seat.

by Simon Evans