Autoblog

With the 2007 season of Formula One racing now neatly tied up, the last few remaining seats for next year are filling up fast.

Following Mercedes' release of Fernando Alonso from his contract with McLaren and his earlier reported letter of intent with Renault where he won his two world titles, Alonso looks all but completely assured to be leaving McLaren a season early. That leaves McLaren with an open seat, and few available drivers to fill it.

The question no one seems to be asking is who will fill Alonso's seat at the British team next year. Never shying away from the difficult questions, Autoblog looks at the different options available for McLaren for 2008. Follow the jump to read more.

[Photo: Mark Thompson/Getty]

McLaren has finally revealed their second driver for the upcoming 2007 Formula One season: Lewis Hamilton will be racing alongside world champion Fernando Alonso, who leaves Renault to join McLaren this season.

Hamilton has been a personal protégé of McLaren chief Ron Dennis since the young driver was thirteen. Lewis won the GP2 title this year, and in moving into the race seat skips right over the test-driver faze. Of course this means a disappointed Pedro de la Rosa will return to his role as test driver after having filled in for Juan Pablo Montoya this past season. The second implication is that the rumors of Mika Hakkinen's return to F1 in a McLaren for the 2007 season turn out not to be true.

There'll certainly be a lot of eyes on Lewis as he makes his landmark debut in F1 racing for a leading team. Nice work if you can get it.

[Source: GrandPrix.com]