Viso plays his mastercard

A couple of interesting photos turned up in the paddock at Interlagos, showing a chubby little kid getting the autograph of Michael Schumacher in the pitlane. It looked like the meeting was the highlight of the lad’s life so far.

Nothing too unusual in that you might think, except the pictures were taken at the Brazilian GP back in 1996 – and 10 years on the chubby little kid became the latest and last driver who can claim he once shared a race track with Michael, albeit only on the Friday of his last ever Grand Prix…

The junior Schumacher fan was none other than Ernesto Viso, the GP2 star who had his first public outing in a Grand Prix car in Spyker’s third entry at Interlagos. He also became the first Venezuelan to sample an F1 car since Johnny Cecotto’s season with Toleman was aborted by an accident in practice at the 1984 British GP.

Unfortunately for Ernesto Viso, his familiarisation run at Silverstone the previous week was a bit of a wash out, so still he had a lot to learn.

‘It was really difficult, it rained so much that the track flooded and there were water pumps trying to take the water away!,’ he explained. ‘We did about 15 laps of the short circuit, but I was just cruising around, because the car was aquaplaning. I just learned how to use the controls on the steering wheel, but I wasn’t even flat on the straights because of the water!’

Things went better at Interlagos. He was 13th in the first session – he had never sampled the track before – but had to settle for 20th in the afternoon, as a gremlin meant that he never had a real chance to go for a time.

‘I really enjoyed driving the car. It was awesome, it was a huge challenge because I came to a track that I didn’t know, and I had never driven the car in dry conditions. So everything was new for me! I just came here and it was like the first day of school. Everything works so differently in the team compared with GP2.

‘I had to learn all the systems in the first hour to be ready for the second hour. In the afternoon I did a good a job and I was looking to do a reasonable time. We were going to put the qualifying set-up with low fuel and max rpm and soft tyres, but we had a problem with the engine. If not I was maybe going to be in the top 10, which was going to be OK for the first time ever.

‘I had a couple of spins, but it was not my fault! The guys made some changes and I went back on the power in the same place, it was too much for the traction control, and I just couldn’t control the car. But it was OK.’

Ernesto is hoping to get another chance to test for Spyker in the future: ‘We’re working on that, and we’re talking to some other people in the paddock, and we’re just trying to get out best option. If not I will go back to GP2 and go for the championship.’

And what about those old pictures, brought along by his uncle?

‘I told him not show anybody! Ninety-six was my only time here, it’s a long flight from where I live. I was a big fan of Michael, I think he’s a great driver, I think he’s done a really good job. I’m a little bit bigger now, but not much…’