What’s Senna name?
Speculation is brewing that a legendary sporting name may be about to return to Formula 1.
Bruno Senna, nephew of the great Ayrton Senna, is cutting the mustard in GP2 (the feeder series for Formula 1) and looks set to move onto higher things.
You might wonder why this is the subject of the latest Talent Talk.
After all, many sporting prodigies have followed in their family's footsteps. Nelson Piquet junior and Christian Fiitipaldi (both from Brazil) are just two, but there are numerous examples where there are those who follow their family to the highest level in a sport.
What is interesting with Bruno Senna's situation is that he hung up his helmet when he was 10 - banned, it is said, by his father after the shock of Ayrton Senna's car crash and death at Imola.
Bruno did not get in the saddle again until he was 20: a gap that many would say would be a catastrophic blow to anyone's chances of success in a sport in our hyper-competitive day and age.
Within that age bracket, Lewis Hamilton (who is younger) had already won a number of grands prix and came within a whisker of being crowned Formula One Champion.
Yet, in spite of his ten year hiatus from the sport, Bruno is on the verge of entering the top flight. How is this possible given his extended absence?
Talent, as we know, is a result of the hardwiring of our brain pretty much fully-formed in us by the age of about 15. Some of it is hereditary (DNA / nature). Some of it is due to our early experiences (nurture).
Much of talent is truly 'instinct'. Someone who is talented and applies effort and discipline to his or her tasks, and when those tasks match the talent, will almost always gain greater results than someone who is merely disciplined in that area (but lacks the talent). Perhaps depressingly, someone who is talented in an area and applies zero discipline and effort will also usually gain better results than the person who is untalented in that area even if they are disciplined!
Hence the expression 'form is temporary, class is permanent.'
Highlands offers individuals the opportunity to identify their talents objectively. It would be fascinating to take readings from families where success is passed down to see if there are correlations.
Motorsport is a curious combination of physical and mental attributes. For example, from the physical, one's body would need to be well-adapted to withstand the huge G-force around corners, as well as have lightning quick reactions and motor abilities.
The mental attributes (which Highlands captures) essential for success in motorsport would include, I would imagine, high rhythm memory and pitch discrimination (timing, braking) as well as spacial relations visualisation and theory.
Research conducted over the decades has shown that these factors are hardwired and do not change much over time, nor can they be markedly improved through training. This might explain why Bruno Senna was able to return to competitive racing without the loss of his ability.
It will be fascinating to see whether Bruno will be able to ascend the heights of late, great Ayrton Senna.
As his uncle said: 'If you think I'm good, just wait until you see my nephew.'
We certainly hope he is proved right.
Stumble it!