I am not sure either. 2006 was a bad season for McLaren. There was nothing at stake, so they could have put Hamilton in that seat to get up to turns with a F1 car. Though like mentioned the young drivers programme by McLaren is bound by several contracts. Mclaren (and Mercedes) might also have preferred to develop parts of the car for next season (which was important due the engine freeze started in 2007), for which they needed an experienced driver.mnmracer wrote:I think Hamilton and Vettel are two clear cases of greats that were picked up early, yet had to wait for a place to open up. Had Montoya fallen out of favor during 2006, I believe Hamilton would have been given the seat right then and there, as it happened with Vettel, who was leading the Formula Renault 3.5 championship by the time he got called for F1.turbof1 wrote:A very nice piece. It does confirm some cliché''s about paydrivers. It also says the real talented drivers get picked up before they have to enter the feeder series.
Hamilton is the exception that confirms the rule: Winning the GP2 title the first year, he outclassed at times the rest of the field by such a margin that you couldn't stop wonder why he wasn't already in F1.
*edit: just remembered Montoya DID fall out during 2006. Not sure why they didn't pick Lewis, but Pedro certainly didn't do too bad. They probably preferred his experience.
But ok, that goes off the topic. Quite notable that I found throughout the last 10 champions is that they generally performed enormously in the junior formula series, at which time they get picked up by f1 teams. Kimi is the biggest example of that; he raced and won both in the British Formula Renault Winter Series (1999) and the Formula Renault UK Championship (2000). Combined there were 23, winning 13 of them. Take note those 23 were the only formula races he drove until that point. Sauber picked him up based on those results.