It's become quite clear that Heikki Kovalainen isn't likely to return to McLaren in 2010. I must admit that I thought he'd be much better than he's been - I figured he wouldn't quite be able to match Lewis in outright speed but wouldn't be far back and would be steady. Unfortunately that hasn't been the case.

So who should replace him in the second McLaren next year? A few possibilities:

Nick Heidfeld - This is who I would pick. He's quick enough to push Lewis, clever enough to bring home points even in tough spots, and is seemingly without a massive ego. To me he's a better pick than his teammate, who may be ultimately a bit quicker, because he's so level headed. Add in that he's very good on heavy fuel (which will be important with no refueling next year) and there's no reason not to pick him.

Nico Rosberg - Probably the favorite to get it, but to me it doesn't make much sense. Sure, he's very smart and he's quick (though it's tough to tell with the teammates he's had, excluding Webber) but he may be a bit too erratic. And how would he deal with Lewis being quicker if that were to be the case? To me this would be Heikki, take 2.

Adrian Sutil - Sure, he hasn't look all that impressive next to Fisi (let's call it a draw), but you have to remember that Fisi is very, very good in lesser cars. Perhaps Sutil would shine with the resources at his disposal at Mclaren.

Fernando Alonso - Hey, Ron is gone so it's not totally impossible (almost, but not totally). I would love to see any of the top drivers head-to-head, and this matchup is as likely as any other clash of the titans.

Sutil/Heidfeld/Rosberg very good drivers all three but i wouldnt count in Alonso though he has his eyes on Ferrari i think I would recommend they sign either Heidfield or Rosberg both are very consistent not that sutil is but it's hard to choose between 3 very good drivers

Fred will go back. I have a suspicion that a seat at Ferrari is not available currently.

Vettel -put some real talent back in #2.

any driver who looks bad next to fisi needs to start taking up needlework, or gardening.

why do people call alonso fred i dont understand .... hehe

Source/link/etc ??

Hopefully Rosberg, hes very quick but he needs good management and a good car and Williams cant give him either. I think Lewis and Rosberg would make the strongest pairing in all of current F1.

Didn't they just sign a new contract with Heikki?

Heikki.

He isn't that bad.

Adam carroll. He would destroy Lewis if McLaren have a non dominant car.

Lewis is good in good cars, but not so good in cars that aren't the best.

Thats why in a bad car this year he has finished higher then his starting position at every race...?

Why not Robert Kubica? It is hard to see how he can continue with BMW after they refused to support his title chances last year for the sake of this year's car which turned out to be a complete shitbox. Yes, there is Lewis waiting at McLaren but other options are not better.

Button :yes:

Heikki will continue...

Can hardly imagine Alonso going back there even if Ron is gone. After lauding italian culture and Ferrari once a week it's more likely that he'll go there. Some say there's even some sort of contract already signed.

I remember that back in 2001 there was talk about Heidfeld going to McLaren, and Heidfeld expressing his desire to do so. The spot went to Kimi though and Heidfeld felt let down. Can't see him on McLaren's wish list right now. Like Webber once said "he just sits there", is ok but no more. Might perform better than Kova though.

I think it could be Rosberg going there if Kova leaves. Hasn't Haug said something about wanting to sign Rosberg after 2007 when Alonso left?

Grossjean.

Renault is pulling out, amd Romain is the most obvious 'next great one' since Lewis himself.

Heikki to MTV3 last Thursday in Monaco


My contract expires in the end of this season but I sure would like to continue with the team and I am hopeful this issue will be settled very soon. At least at this point all my plans are geared towards a solution where I will be driving for McLaren also next year. And many more years to come

If McLaren have any ambition of winning the constructors title which can I add haven't won for more than 10 years they need a quick no.2 driver. HK should not have been retained for this season never mind next season.

Rosberg would be ideal,he's quick and a good friend of Lewis so would not feel as bad being inferior to him. Clearly without a question of a doubt LH is the quickest driver in f1 and will remain so for the coming decade so if McLaren make the right choice for the 2nd driver spot they'll have a chance to compete for the constructors title.

In 2008 Heikki Kovalainen didn't do many mistakes, but he lacked Hamilton's speed in races. He did good in qualifying, but in races he had issues with graining on the tyres and that slowed his racing pace considerably. But I think those issues were solved already by the end of the 2008 season. This year Kovalainen has made more mistakes, but his racing speed (at least in China and Monaco) has been equal to Hamilton's.

I'd guess that McLaren will want to keep Kovalainen if he cuts down on making mistakes and continues to show good speed in races. With all due respect, I just don't think Heidfeld, Rosberg, or Sutil will be able to match Hamilton's pace. And McLaren certainly don't want to try Alonso again.

I think Mac would have to demonstrate they have a decent car before any of the afore mentioned drivers would consider signing up.
If I were Nico, for example, I wouldn´t be considering Mac as an alternative right now. I´d like to see him in a Ferrari to be honest. I personally think he´s the pick of the current driver lineup. He´s making the Williams look like something special, when in fact it´s a load of rubbish.

I believe many people are of the opinion its actually the other way round.....

all due respect to lewis, but it's pretty easy to finish higher than you start when you can't even make q3

Nico Rosberg, not a number 1 driver or team leader, but a perfect nr 2 driver at McLaren,
they know eachother and respect eachother

Michael Schumacher.

It'd be wonderful to see, but I think with his years out of F1 it'd be too risky and on a hiding to nothing.

He made Q3 in Bahrain and finished 4th. A place where this car didn't deserve to be.
Same for his race in Melbourne.

Regarding Heikki, we'll see how he does in the next 3-4 races. McLaren is probably in no hurry yet (as some team may fold drivers may become easily available), so there may still be some time to show some results. He will need to do better than he has so far, though.

I have to say I think Heikki has been disappointing this season so far. I always thought he'd been overhyped just 'cos he's a Fin, but I honestly can't pick an obvious replacement for him either. Vettel is the only possible choice (Red Bull wouldn't allow though would they?).

Rosberg has been a bit of an enigma really. I just don't know if its him or the team who are underperforming. Perhaps a change of team might do him good.

I suppose we'll just have to see how the season unfolds. There's time yet for many drivers to redeem themselves.

Geez Rhodie do you really rate him that high? I am still of the opinion that the jury is struggling with a lack of evidence; he gave teammate Webber a fright early on as rookie then failed to kick on and got well beaten. Since then he has stood still with a teammate without a F1 track record elsewhere who appears to be out of his depth.

I am not denying he could be or even is a top flight driver but he has stagnated at Williams. He has been touted as a future WDC but a move to teammate of Lewis is very risky. Lewis is VERY quick and has the team behind him. Nico's father sank like a stone when he moved from Williams to team up with champion Prost and got no support for his technical input to bring the car "alive" (oversteer). Until he was allowed at, in Australia, his last race to set the car up in the way he favoured he never looked like a winner again. He should have won but for tyre delamination. The direction a team takes in chassis development usually favours the No 1 driver unless they have a similar style, but I digress.

I think the appeal of McLaren after years of struggle at a team who sadly will never see glory days again means Nico will jump to Mac. There are other possibilities for Mac but I think Heidfield was never taken seriously since his role at Mac all those years ago and never will. They will be looking for a No2 who can win. Without knowing contracts pending (do McLaren and Ferrari worry about those details anyway?) Alonso is unlikely, Kubica is unsettled I believe. Could Kimi be swayed now that Ron has gone and he seems to fail to get what he wants from the engineering of the cars?

I think Vettel is the one who has the raw pace to deal with Lewis and assuming Alonso and the Ferrari drivers wouldn't give it a look who else has that pace? I think Nico will go there but I think Vettel is who they should poach if they want to dominate (as they do like to). For "the sport"'s sake I would like to see Vettel continue to bring RedBull up with MW.

I don't think Vettel would want to leave RBR just yet, hes been given a good car this year, hes much quicker than his team mate, he can continue to build up his race craft because right now its been a bit shoddy. The pressure of being with Ferrari / Mclaren or whoever is challenging for the title next year.

For Heidfeld I think he would probably be just another Kovalainen if he got the seat.

You won't be able to answer this thread accurately until you know which teams are actually on the grid next year and who will be without a drive.

Personally, I'd love to watch Alonso back at McLaren. Martin just needs to be able to keep the egos of two world champions placated. However, I think over the last two seasons Alonso probably has more respect and perspective regarding Hamilton, and he won't chuck wobblies when Lewis beats him (as he did in the first half of 2007).

I also think Lewis has more respect for Alonso after watching him throw his crappy Renault around the past two seasons onto the podium...as well as his pace relative to Heikki.

Norbert has more or less said Mercedes would like a German driver in the team, but surely they're in the same position as Ferrari 10 years ago, who didn't want an Italian driver in the team to be humiliatingly crushed by Schumi? They seem to think Nico would be OK, but I think he'd be a no 2, like Sutil, Glock or Heidfeld. Only Vettel could hope to be a joint no1 but he's very young still...well it would be interesting to find out but it would be risky.

Personally if I were Mercedes I'd leave McLaren to Hamilton, let him trample some other nation's hopeful underfoot, and put Vettel in Brawn, with the 3-pointed star on its nose.

Then for Mac I'd go with someone mature, fast and grounded - Mark Webber.

But it's probably the Merc Board calling the shots, and they probably just have the idea that they want a German in the team, preferably Vettel. Well if that happens it will be emotional

Yes. I am curious too.

Which driver wants to chance his career?

Mclaren is Hamilton' team so the driver that moves there has to have iron-clad confidence and absolute mental strength and ability that really shakes Hamilton to the core.

There is only one driver that meets all requirements and his name is Robert Kubica.

That won't happen, Mercedes hate Webber after the CLR experience and hes around as fast as Heikki anyway.

It was only about two weeks ago on here that it was being spoken that the mclaren mechanics had fallen out with Lewis and Lewis wanted out

Anthony Davidson

Me

ok if you believe in luck, which I don't but some do, why would you pick the 'unluckiest' F1 driver in recent times?

Eyes would have to be on Vettel surely.

It was only a couple weeks ago that Alonso spoke of MISSING the battle between he and Lewis. Repeated that he had no problem with Lewis, just the way the team was handling them. Yes, I know it was a shot at Nelson because he is so slow he's no helping the team progress, but it was an interesting comment.

I think the lack of competition from their teammates has hurt both Fred and Lewis to a small extent. Would be great for us and their desire to compete to see them together even if it would probably NOT be the best for their WDC hopes.

I heard that Coulthard would be back in action and he strongly believes that this time is gone be his year.

Arse, out of, talking.

Mclaren should think big. Kova is a decent driver, but it seems to be the case where a driver and the car and team just doesn't add up to victories, not even to good performances. And Lewis Hamilton does need a teammate that will challenge him, Heikki doesn't do that. Then if they get a season like this one, where the car isn't very good, then its easy for hamilton to not have any goals at all for the season, he doesn't even have a teammate challenge to look forward to.

To me they should get either Kubica or Rosberg, and I don't know if ferrari will ditch kimi next year, seeing that he is making the effort this year. I wouldn't be surprised if Alonso returned to Mclaren, this is F1... In the hunt for a quick car, and a quick driver, they forgive and forget more often than not.

Alonso has said bad things about Mclaren and Hamilton, But he has also said bad things about ferrari, and now he has been flirting with them for quite sometime, He already mentioned that him and hamilton are ok, that they moved past the problems they had during the mclaren year, and Alonso did say that the problems had more to do with the management (ron dennis?) and not lewis.

If Ferrari doesn't let go of Raikkonen for the 2010 season, I would bet Alonso is going back to Mclaren. I would really like that (and i'm a ferrari fan) But i really liked 2007.. mclaren and ferrari having really competitive drivers, Hamilton got more experience now, Massa became top too. it would make a great season. (if there is going to be a f1 season next year of course lol)

Webber? Button? Just throwing it out there.

After further thought, it's got to be Kubica doesn't it?

DC did a better job as No2 at Mac. Heikki's seat in trouble?

IF that does happen, I would be totally surprised.

IMO Alonso will not take that risk. In 2007, he was beaten by a rookie Lewis Hamilton, why should he take the risk of being beaten by the same driver. IF he could not beat a rookie, it is hard for Alonso to beat the same driver again, add that with 3 year's experiences + the said team is now almost entirely built around Lewis. All in all, it is too risky.

Edit: Honestly, in 2007 I don't think Ron Denis was Alonso's main problem. IMO His main problem was Lewis' speed.

Really? Wow, there is a lot of opinion being thrown around as fact in this thread. The OP states it's quite clear HK is unlikely to be retained for 2010, yet I've heard nothing, seen nothing or had any indication from the usual rumour mongers that this is the case.

And I for one have doubt that LH is the quickest driver in F1 and further more that he will remain so for the coming decade. I wouldn't hesitate to nominate him as one of the quickest, but unequivocally the quickest? Can't commit to that, plus for the next decade? Big call.

In terms of who should partner Lewis in 2010, I mentioned in the Heikki threead - Why replace him? Anyone faster would either take points of Lewis or perhaps cause tension. I applaud Mac and Ferrari for allowing thier drivers to go at it in 07/08, but if you want to win a drivers championship, history shows its usually better to have a clear no.1, and although I'm not LH's biggest fan as a person, if you have him in your team, you know he'll get the best out of your car, why bother getting someone else to upset the apple cart just to win a constrcuters championship? Drivers crown always has more glory.

Webber.

Fast enough to push Lewis, probably not fast enough to consistently beat him. He can also develop a car and is good with heavy fuel loads. Plus he's going to be 33 this year, so he'll likely be happy to sit back and get a couple of wins a year and then retire.

I dare say he's realised the WDC dream isn't going to happen, unfortunately. Take the next best thing.

Sutil or Rosberg would be good.

Mclaren wouldnt want to pick anyone that would be too competitive because we have all see how lewis reacts to that in 2007 when he threw his toys out of the pram a number of times and it cost the team dearly. They just need to find a solid point scorer who can bring the car to the finish, something which heikki isnt able to do. I think Heidfeld would be perfect.

you're confusing lewis and alonso