Young Britons in spotlight for McLaren seat

MAGNY-COURS, France, July 17: Juan Pablo Montoya's departure from Formula One has handed the chance of a lifetime to McLaren hopefuls Lewis Hamilton and Gary Paffett.

The signs are that the team's coveted second race seat in 2007 will go to one of the two Britons, despite Spaniard Pedro de la Rosa replacing NASCAR-bound Colombian Montoya for the time being.

McLaren managing director Martin Whitmarsh said at the French Grand Prix that the team were unlikely to look beyond in-house candidates.

''We have a seat available and we've got some very good talent in the 'family' and we will work with that talent and eventually make what we think is the best decision for next year,'' he said.

''In this business anything is possible, but I think we are not looking actively outside of the family, so to speak.'' Finland's Kimi Raikkonen is expected to move to Ferrari or Renault, leaving De la Rosa, Paffett and Hamilton as candidates to partner world champion Fernando Alonso when he moves from Renault.

At 35 years old, test driver De la Rosa can hardly be considered the future and having two Spaniards together would not be the most attractive option for sponsors.

That leaves the youngsters, despite McLaren's previous reluctance to put a rookie straight into one of their cars.

ROOKIE FAILURES

The last rookie to start a season for them was American Michael Andretti in 1993 and he was gone by 1994.

Denmark's Jan Magnussen made his debut with the team as a stand-in at the 1995 Pacific Grand Prix before going to Stewart and failing dismally.

However last season's championship runner-up Raikkonen had done only 17 grands prix before he was snapped up from Sauber for 2002.

Paffett, the 1999 McLaren Autosport young driver of the year and 2005 DTM (German touring cars) champion with engine partners Mercedes, is 10 years younger than De la Rosa and the team's second test driver.

''Gary is a very talented driver, we wouldn't be investing in him unless we considered him to be capable of running in Formula One in this team,'' said Whitmarsh.

Hamilton, 21, has caused real excitement with his performances in the GP2 support series after being carefully groomed by McLaren for more than a decade. Team boss Ron Dennis has said he will be in Formula One somewhere next year.

Seen by some as Formula One's answer to Tiger Woods, because of his West Indian ancestry, Hamilton has been built up by the British media as the country's next champion in waiting -- despite having next to no Formula One experience. That brings added pressure and McLaren are eager to ease as much of it as possible.

''With Lewis we are very keen not to destabilise his GP2 programme and we'll see what happens in the coming few weeks,'' said Whitmarsh.

''He's going to concentrate on that and we'll sit down together as a team and take a view as to whether we should be testing him by the end of the year.''

HEAD START

Paffett has a head start. The Bromley-born racer will be driving for McLaren at a test session in southern Spain this week.

''He's on a learning curve and the reality is that he is ahead on that learning curve of Lewis at the moment,'' said Whitmarsh.

''He's doing very well, he's a sensitive driver who understands what's going on...from where he was, as DTM champion to today, he's come a long, long way.

''He is a guy who has won in every formula that he's been in, until last year generally in underfunded or relatively poor teams,'' added Whitmarsh.

''He's a likeable, rounded individual. I'm sure he'll get into Formula One, maybe with this team or maybe with another team. We'll see.'' Paffett has been going through a carefully worked out familiarisation programme with McLaren, only recently moving from the 'endurance stage' -- engines and tyres -- to performance work.

''Had we had the crystal ball, maybe we would have engineered a steeper learning curve,'' said Whitmarsh. ''But the reality is that if we had put Gary or Lewis in here (at Magny-Cours), it would have been a massively tall order.'' Formula One is always looking out for new talent but frequently squanders it, the unforgiving environment chewing up young drivers and spitting them out before they have had a chance to get on their feet.

McLaren are wary of that happening to their two.

''If we want them to be real credible options for next year, the best thing to do is not throw them into the car prematurely,'' said Whitmarsh. ''Because otherwise their confidence is eroded and people start to get on their case.

''If they had underperformed or made a mistake, we would have been damaging their careers and we owe it to them to nurture them. We won't walk away from Lewis or Gary.'' Reuters