Lewis Hamilton visits grave of F1 hero Senna

Lewis Hamilton took the chance to visit the grave of multiple F1 world champion Ayrton Senna this week in the countdown to the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos, the penultimate round in the 2009 FIA F1 World Championship.

Hamilton who has always made it clear that Senna is one of his heroes, has been unable to make the pilgrimage before, as for the last two years he has always been battling for the title and in the glare of the media.

However this year the McLaren #1 is no longer in that position and so he took the opportunity to pay his respects to the man who many regard as the best ever in F1 and who of course tragically died at the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994.

"It's an awesome place, very simple, just a plaque. For me it was special," Hamilton told sportinglife.com after making the trip to Senna's grave at Morumbi cemetery in Sao Paulo on Wednesday.

"It was only a matter of time before I did it. I've wanted to do it for the last two years, but I was being followed and all kinds of things.

"I wasn't yesterday - at least I don't think I was. I just went in and tried to walk around people's graves as everyone else was walking over people's graves. I left after a couple of minutes because there were other people there and I didn't really want to be there at the same time as them.

"I always was a fan of Ayrton Senna and he always inspired me a lot. I can feel his presence when I'm here."

Hamilton meanwhile was tenth fastest overall in the combined practice times on Friday - fifth in FP1 and tenth in FP2, his best effort a 1 minute 12.749 seconds, fourth tenths off the top time set by Fernando Alonso.

"We had a good Friday. We're not the fastest, but our long runs appear to be quite consistent. We're not as quick as the Red Bulls, but, for Brazil - where we haven't traditionally been quick - we're quite happy with the pace we have," Hamilton continued.

"In the past, we've always been quick in qualifying but not as quick in the race. KERS is worth close to four tenths in qualifying and around half that in the race, so I am optimistic for tomorrow afternoon and think the consistency we showed today will reward us in the race on Sunday."