Fans claim de la Rosa deserves McLaren seat

Pedro de la Rosa

(GMM) Nearly 8,000 Pedro de la Rosa supporters think the Spanish veteran should be selected to race alongside McLaren's Lewis Hamilton in 2008.

An online petition, which can be found here (http://www.petitiononline.com/Q1Q2Q3/petition.html), claims that the Woking based team's 36-year-old tester "deserves the second McLaren car more than any other driver".

De la Rosa's countryman and double world champion Fernando Alonso has left the team after a turbulent 2007 season.

De la Rosa made his grand prix debut in 1999, and raced most recently for McLaren last year when he finished second in the Hungarian grand prix while substituting for departed regular Juan Pablo Montoya.