By Huw Alban
September 18 2006

Is it me or are Spyker MF1 suddenly very popular at the moment? Either the appearance of Spyker Cars has suddenly injected confidence into the driver market, or prospective drivers were asked to keep quiet. Either way, more drivers are coming out of the woodwork expressing an interest in this team.

Crash.net reports that the latest interest comes from GP2 star Ernesto Viso.

The popular F1 news site reports believes that Christian Klien is still the favourite to claim the number three seat for the rest of the season, ousting Giorgio Mondini, Markus Winkelhock, and Adrian Sutil from their previous roles. In an interview with Crash.net radio the Vanazuelan driver admitted that he was in talks with Spyker MF1 about a role at the Brazilian Grand Prix and beyond into 2007.

"The Spyker MF1 seat is a possibility, although nothing is 100 per cent secure," Viso reportedly told Crash.net Radio, "But we're working on it and I think it would be a good introduction to F1 and would be good for my sponsors as Brazil is quite close to Venezuela. At the moment we're dealing with various different people, and trying to get a deal as a driver for next year."

It would be sensible to suggest that Ernesto has a distinct disadvantage alongside the likes of Christian, and this something that he readily recognises. "For sure, I am going to be in a weaker position, but I don't have any doubts about my capability and I am sure that I can do the same job as - or even better than - the guys with experience.

"We're working on the sponsors. We have some new sponsors, while some of my existing ones are not interested and others are going to put up a bigger budget. But, again, we're working on it and nothing is 100 per cent. My options for 2007 are either GP2 or F1. I would do F1 if I had everything fine, a good deal. If not, I would do GP2. I really like the GP2 class and am sure I can do very well next year, possibly even win the championship.

"I'm not looking for just a testing role [in F1 next year]. I would rather do GP2 and a bit of testing in F1 than be a test driver alone. But it's really up to the sponsors. I'm in the situation now where it is not up to me, but up to them."

Spyker MF1 have made no secret of the fact that there are evaluating drivers at next weeks Silverstone test. In a conversation with the team earlier last week there was even the admission that the team intend to evaluate several drivers, and it is possible that those been looked at are those that are now choosing to come forward and have their say about their future.

We'll find out next week for sure won't we?

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