Tuesday 2 January at 08:18 : Ayrton Senna's nephew has played down renewed speculation that he is in pole position to debut in formula one for Toro Rosso next year.

23-year-old Bruno Senna, whose late uncle won three world championships for McLaren, will graduate from British F3 to F1's feeder series - GP2 - in 2007.

But although he maintains close links with Ayrton Senna's former McLaren teammate and friend Gerhard Berger - who co-owns Red Bull sister team Toro Rosso - Bruno denied that his sole objective is to attract an offer for 2008 from the Faenza based F1 squad.

Senna, nonetheless, is likely to test for STR this year.

But he told La Gazzetta dello Sport: "My goal is to make myself an interesting consideration not only for Toro Rosso, but for any formula one team."

Brazilian Senna insisted that his famous name has been a help but also a hindrance in his racing career so far.

"The name helps me to get sponsors and the attention of the press," he admitted, "but it also brings me a lot of pressure."

Senna added: "A lot of people are expecting that I am the 'new Senna', but I am only Bruno."

Senna also said that while GP2 will be a hard challenge, "I believe that I am ready for it".

GMMF1
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