It was inevitable that Lewis Hamilton would get the second seat at McLaren. Who are any of us to second guess Ron Dennis?
Actually Ron made the decision when he summoned his protégé to his house for a meeting on September 23, but decided to save the announcement until now, the eve of the first post-season test. By the way, Jenson Button will miss that test session because of rib injuries suffered in a karting accident.
Hamilton has been under Ron's wing for several years and to make a comparison with Michael Andretti and his short-lived Formula One career is just plain silly and without merit, and Andretti isn't the last rookie to race for McLaren; Jan Magnussen started eight and finished 10th at the October 22, Pacific Grand Prix, at Aida, Japan., in his F1 debut.
Had Lewis Hamilton been available to just about any other F1 team, he would have been signed long ago.
Well done Ron; a good move on your part and there is absolutely no chance that Hamilton will be relegated to test driver status during the season; you can bet the farm on that one.
For `tony h', Indycar (CART at the time) wasn't all ovals in 1993, when Michael Andretti attempted his F1 career; 10 of the 16 races were on road or street courses, including Mid Ohio, Cleveland, Portland, Detroit, Elkhart Lake, Long Beach, Toronto, Vancouver ...