Montoya could still stay at McLaren

Juan Pablo Montoya still has a chance of driving for McLaren next season, despite the team not having exercised an option that would have kept him on for 2007, according to this week's Autosport

Anthony Rowlinson Jun 7, 2006, 4:01 PM

Montoya has been linked with a number of other teams for next season including Red Bull, Renault and Toyota.

And although Montoya's relations with the team have been strained at times this year - including his public roasting of strategy decisions after the Australian GP - he remains one of five drivers being evaluated for either test or race driver roles.

McLaren chief Martin Whitmarsh said the others were Raikkonen, who Whitmarsh insisted was still in discussion with the team over contract renewal, GP2 ace Lewis Hamilton and current testers Gary Paffett and Pedro de la Rosa.

Whitmarsh added: "Juan Pablo is absolutely not out of consideration for next year. He won his first race for us at Silverstone last year and he goes there with that knowledge in his mind.

"He's doing a very good job for us and he's conducting himself very well in the face of considerable speculation over his future."