Kimi Antonelli’s emotional tribute to Senna’s family.

Kimi Antonelli paid a visit to Ayrton Senna's nephew and nieces ahead of this weekend's São Paulo Grand Prix, describing it as an 'unforgettable day.'

Senna has long been the guiding inspiration behind Antonelli's career.

The Italian grew up on stories of the three-time champion and has idolised him since childhood, a tribute reflected in his choice of race number.

Antonelli carries number 12, the number Senna used for part of his own career, and will keep it again next season purely to honour him.

For Antonelli, Senna is far more than a former Formula 1 driver, he is a source of inspiration.

That made his visit to the Senna family all the more significant.

Upon arriving in Brazil after becoming world champion in Mexico City, Antonelli travelled with his father Marco to spend time with Bruno, Bianca and Paula Senna, Ayrton's nephew and nieces.

The new world champion shared a photo on Instagram of himself sitting in the legendary Lotus 98T, the car in which Senna won the Spanish and Detroit Grands Prix in 1986.

It carried the same number 12.

For Antonelli, it was clearly a special and emotional visit to the Senna family.

In the newly crowned world champion's Instagram post, he thanked the Senna family wholeheartedly.

Antonelli wrote: 'An unforgettable day.

Thank you to the entire Senna family.

It will take some time to sink in, but I will carry these memories with me forever.'

The Senna family also felt honoured by the visit from Kimi and Marco Antonelli.

Paula Senna shared more photos of the visit, with the following caption: 'We had the pleasure of welcoming the newest world champion, Kimi Antonelli on a very special occasion: standing next to Ayrton Senna’s iconic Lotus, celebrating his victory with a very heartfelt gift, one of my sculptures of Ayrton.

And we had the opportunity to see from ourselves what a special character he is.'

'A connection between generations who share the same passion for motorsports and the pursuit of excellence.'

'Congratulations, Kimi, on this great achievement and on the career you’ve been building on the track!'

Antonelli became the youngest world champion in F1 history at the Mexican Grand Prix, clinching the title at just twenty years old.

That race nearly ended in disaster — Mercedes revealed after the win that a crack in the engine's oil pan had brought Antonelli close to retiring with only four laps to go.

Bradley Lord, deputy team principal of Mercedes, explained: 'If you want a sign that this is Kimi’s year, we retrieved the car after the race and removed the underside, which was covered in oil.

The oil pan cracked, and Kimi says he thinks with about four laps to go, he could feel the engine just starting to struggle.

He was right on the verge of retiring from the race, yet he held on.'

Antonelli still has enough spare engine parts in his inventory to get through Brazil without any issues, while Mercedes continues to work on introducing its ADUO 1 upgrade before the end of the season.

The new champion will not face any engine penalties in São Paulo, Brazil.

Antonelli's connection to Senna runs deeper than most driver idols.

He chose the number 12 specifically because Senna used it, and has confirmed he will keep it next season for the same reason.

The visit to the Senna family took place after Antonelli arrived in Brazil directly from Mexico City, where he secured the championship.