A $45 Billion Brand Makes Lewis Hamilton’s Connection With Idol Ayrton Senna Stronger

When it comes to legacy in Formula 1, Ayrton Senna is surely a name that is going to come up on the list alongside the likes of Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Alain Prost, etc. However, when it comes to being an inspiration to many legendary drivers, there’s hardly anyone but Senna himself. The late Brazilian star driver has been an idol to Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, and he recently joined a campaign that made his connection with the Brazilian stronger.

As per Mktesportivo.com, the British driver recently joined Itau Personnalité’s campaign, where he was given an honorary blue cap in memory of three-time world champion Ayrton Senna. Hamilton received the cap from Latin America’s biggest banking institution that’s worth over $45 billion to remind the Brazilian people of the iconic blue cap Senna used to wear during his racing days.

Senna wore the Banco Nacional cap, which was his sponsor back in the day. As Senna is no more after his tragic death in 1994, Itau Personnalité tried to bring in an iconic moment when they took the seven-time world champion in the campaign, months after Hamilton received honorary Brazilian citizenship.

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Admittedly, Itau Personnalité and Banco Nacional are from the same wing. After Banco Nacional went bankrupt in 1995, it was acquired by Unibanco and later in 2008, Unibanco and Itau created a merger that created the largest-ever financial system in Latin America.

Lewis Hamilton as the Itaú Personnalité big shot

After being granted citizenship in Brazil, the seven-time world champion has involved himself with another big Brazillian connection. The Mercedes ace tied up with Itau Personnalité, Itau Unibanco’s elite wing aimed at the high-income public for the “Always on the move” campaign. Hamilton was seen in an advertisement by the banking authorities during the halftime of Globo’s Jornal Nacional.

Having Lewis Hamilton on the team meant huge for the organization. Eduardo Tracanella, Marketing Director at Itaú Unibanco said on the British driver’s inclusion with Itaú Personnalité, “We are very happy to have Hamilton with us — he adds even more grandeur to our new campaign, which is as big as the transformation we are promoting within Itaú Personnalité.”

Speaking on Hamilton’s mammoth celebrity effect, Rafael Urenha, the man responsible for the campaign, also said, “We are launching a new positioning for Personnalité, with a champion-sized ambition like Hamilton. The impact brought by him is enormous, he translates excellence in everything he does and is always pushing boundaries.”

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This shows that Hamilton, despite being British by birth, enjoys immense respect and popularity from the Latin America country. Neither the man who won his first-ever championship here in Brazil in 2008 has forgotten the country, nor did the people of Brazil keep him under a grudge for snatching Felipe Massa’s championship.