McLaren's Hot Seat

Who will be Lewis Hamilton's teammate at McLaren next season?

Hamilton recently named Nico Rosberg, Adrian Sutil and Heikki Kovalainen as the top three candidates for the seat vacated by Fernando Alonso. However, whether or not he named the names in a particular order is unclear.

Rosberg definitely has the pedigree and, more importantly, exceptional performance for the under-funded Williams team in the past two seasons. But Williams' boss Frank Williams, for whom Nico's dad Keke won the World Championship title in 1982, had repeatedly insisted that Nico will drive for them next season.

Kovalainen is yet another promising driver managed by Renault's boss Flavio Briatore. He started the season poorly and his performance had been lambasted by Briatore as being "rubbish". But he soon picked up the pace literally and finished the season seventh in the Championship standings, i.e., the best driver not driving for Ferrari, McLaren or BMW.

Sutil, though, is a dark horse. He impressed me with his aggressiveness while driving for Team Germany in A1GP in 2005, which won him a seat with then-Midland (now Spyker) team. His trump card though would be his close friendship with Hamilton, and they have known each other since their karting days years ago.

But will any of them be the lucky guy?

Given Fernando Alonso's hasty departure, and the fact that most of the top drivers are under contracts with other teams, McLaren is likely to be inclined (or forced?) towards finding a stop-gap replacement, and wait until the most ideal candidate to become a free agent in a year's time (or longer). And that driver will have to be a "team driver" who is more than happy to play second fiddle to Hamilton.

So my guess is that neither Rosberg, Sutil nor Kovalainen will get the nod, as these three hotshots are more or less the number one driver in their respective teams right now. Instead, the seat will go to someone who is less "ambitious" and has been regarded as a good teammate.

My money would be on either Pedro de la Rosa or Giancarlo Fisichella, both veterans of Formula One, as the lucky guy.

De la Rosa has been McLaren's test driver since 2005. When Juan Pablo Montoya decided that it was time to try his hands on NASCAR, de la Rosa stepped in admirably and scored an excellent second in Hungary in 2006. More importantly, he has a good relationship with Hamilton and would be a calming presence that the team sorely needs.

As for Fisichella, he has always been regarded as a smooth driver. However, his occasional lapses in concentration mean that he will never be a real threat for the title. Having won just two races for Renault during its glory years, will he get the chance to drive for a top team again? Remember, he was a doing a good job as Alonso's lieutenant with Renault, and he'll be more than grateful to remain in Formula One.

Stay tuned.