RENATO MERLIN

MY MEMORIES OF SENNA

It was 1978, I think, I was 12 years old or so. One day I went to DAP with my brother Umberto. I don’t remember why, I just know I ended up mounting terminal pieces on exhausts. As soon as we walked in, I noticed this kid and my brother said: “That’s the guy from Brazil that they say goes really strong”.

He was leaning against the wall that divided the office from the warehouse. We arrived in the morning and left in late afternoon: he stayed there whole time, leaning against that wall, waiting. It’s an image I’ll never forget; I don’t even know if he ever moved to grab a bite to eat or go to the bathrrom: he just spent the day there, waiting... I was amazed by his stillness: it was a weekend day, Saturday, I think, and he could have been having fun in downtown Milan; instead, he just stood there, in the same spot, without saying a word.

A few days later, I went to the Parma circuit for one of my first karting races. During free practice, there was this driver I couldn’t get my eyes off of.