My sources tell me that
McLaren offered both
Red Bull and
BMW Sauber the opportunity to have
Lewis Hamilton in their line-ups this year - on loan, of course - but neither entrant availed themselves of the chance.
They might well have been kicking themselves when they witnessed the 21-year old's performance in winning the two GP2 races at the European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring, which was described as 'truly astounding' by one of the McLaren team's top executives - who then admitted that the 21-year old British driver might be considered for a
Formula One drive alongside
Fernando Alonso in 2007.
"Lewis's performance in the Saturday race was the most phenomenal performance I have ever seen in a GP2 race," said Martin Whitmarsh, the McLaren chief executive officer, "If he continues like that, he could decimate the entire field through the remainder of the year - and this is doubly impressive when you consider that most of his strongest rivals are in
their second year racing in the category. It was really outstanding stuff."
Hamilton has been supported by McLaren ever since he was an eleven-year old kart racer, and the Formula One team has helped steer his emergent career through two years in Formula
Renault, followed by a couple of seasons in the F3 Euroseries, which he won commandingly in 2005.
"Together with Lewis, we've obviously got a good stable of drivers signed up, including
Juan Pablo Montoya and our test drivers Pedro de la Rosa and Gary Paffett," Whitmarsh continued, "But we really want to keep as much pressure and sense of anticipation off Lewis's shoulders while he concentrates on his first priority, which is winning the GP2 title."
