With
Juan Pablo Montoya turning his back on Formula One in favour of a new career in the NASCAR series, his vacant, and valuable, McLaren seat is more than likely to be the subject of rumour and speculation over the coming months.
Constantly compared to team-mate
Kimi Raikkonen, Montoya has not been able to take on his team-mate over the one-and-a-half seasons he has raced alongside the Finn so far, with mistakes in Canada and the United States doing little to endear him to team bosses recently.
With only smaller teams willing to make a play for him, Montoya has taken the plunge and returned to the team with which he enjoyed considerable success in open-wheel racing at the turn of the century, Chip Ganassi Racing.
The door has therefore been left open for someone new to take his slot alongside
Fernando Alonso in 2007, and leading the charge are likely to be Britons
Lewis Hamilton and Gary Paffett.
Both Paffett and Hamilton are under
McLaren's wing and both are strongly tipped for a future in
Formula One, a future that is likely to be more imminent for at least one of them thanks to Montoya's leaving.
Of the two, Hamilton is the higher profile, despite having never driven a Formula One car in anger. Although he has established a reputation in various championships, including dominating the F3 Euroseries in 2005, it is his stint in the GP2 Series so far this year that has made teams, not to mention the media, sit up and take notice of his ability.
With Ron Dennis acting as the brains behind his movements, Hamilton was widely tipped as a possible McLaren driver even before Montoya's departure, and it is a rumour that is only likely to gather pace with one seat going spare, even if Dennis insists that there is no rush to promote him straight into the frontline.
