Brazilian Bruno Senna will race for Williams this season, following in the footsteps of his late uncle and triple world champion Ayrton who died in one of the Formula One team's cars at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.
Bruno Senna was introduced officially to staff at the Williams factory.
The former champions, who have carried Senna's name on all their cars ever since that fateful May afternoon at Imola, said in a statement on Tuesday that the 28-year-old would partner Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado.
Senna, who made his F1 debut with the struggling HRT team in 2010 and competed in the last eight races for Renault last year as a stand-in, will start testing with Williams at Spain's Jerez circuit on Feb. 9.
The Williams team will be using Renault's Formula One engine in 2012 and 2013, renewing a partnership which resulted in successful seasons for the team in the 1990s.
Senna replaces 39-year-old compatriot Rubens Barrichello, a family friend who made his race debut in 1993 with Ayrton as his mentor, whose Formula One career now appears to be reluctantly at an end after 19 seasons, 11 race wins and more starts than any other driver.
"It's very interesting to be driving in a team where my uncle has driven before. Quite a few of the people here actually worked with Ayrton," Senna, whose mother Viviane was Ayrton's older sister, said.
"These guys have seen what world champions can do so it is very enouraging for me that they are giving me the chance to prove myself here. And I am sure that we can bring back some good memories but hopefully create some new good memories too."
No financial details were given, but Senna is expected to bring a significant Brazilian sponsor with him to a team currently searching for a new title backer after the departure of telecommunications giant AT&T.
Team principal and founder Frank Williams said: "We need points, and the reason we need points is it establishes your market value, it keeps you on television which is attractive to the people who sponsor you and it also has its own commercial value via Mr Ecclestone and the money for the following season."
But he added: "Above all we just want to see our racing cars running further towards the front than they have in recent, previous, years."
Senna said: "If the car is a point scorer, I want to be every time at 100 percent of what the car can do."
Senna, who raced karts with Ayrton on the family farm and also features in the recent award-winning documentary about his uncle's life and death, wears a blue cap with the branding of Brazilian telecoms company Embratel, his personal sponsor.
The ever-smiling Brazilian made several visits to the team's Grove factory before and after Christmas with Williams, who endured their worst ever season last year, secretly trying him out in their simulator and putting him through his paces in the gym.
Reuters