Hamilton would welcome McLaren test role

McLaren boss Ron Dennis is currently pondering whether to give Hamilton his Formula One debut next year, and will make a decision after the youngster has conducted some testing later this year.

Dennis' options for Hamilton are to give him a McLaren race seat, loan him out to another team or give him a test driver role.

Speaking after clinching the GP2 championship, Hamilton made it clear that he would not object to testing next season if he was then promoted to a race seat in 2008.

Speaking about his preference for testing or racing for a rival team, he said: "I don't think it will make much difference. I've been with McLaren for seven or eight years now. That's where I want to be and I'm happy to work as a tester for a year and then race the next year.

"It would be a good opportunity to learn the car and get used to the team and learn the circuits. But I know them all now, apart from Malaysia and Japan. If I was put in a race seat then it would be more of a challenge being up against Alonso."

Looking back on his GP2 campaign, Hamilton claimed the highlight of it was his recovery drive in Turkey.

"It wasn't a victory, it was a second place in Turkey," he said. "At certain races you have high emotional feelings and I put a lot of pressure on myself to be successful. I didn't want to let the team and McLaren down.

"All I had to do was get 20 points and I spun and went back to 20th. A lot of people think the world is coming to an end in that situation, but I stayed positive. I pushed and got up to second. That was one of my greatest races."