Although, seemingly, every man and his dog is calling on McLaren boss Ron Dennis to give Lewis Hamilton his big break, and put the youngster in one of the silver F1 cars for a Grand Prix, Dennis refuses to rush things.

Talking to reporters in Japan at the weekend, just days before the English youngster carries out his second test for the Woking team, prompting rumours of a possible race debut in Brazil, Dennis said: "I can't see throwing him in at the deep end is a particularly smart thing to do.

"I would rather see Lewis as equipped as he could be to have a chance of racing for McLaren in the future," he added.

Referring to this week's test in Spain, which some are insisting is a head-to-head with Pedro de la Rosa, as the team considers who will partner Kimi Raikkonen at Interlagos, Dennis said: "We are not going into the test to evaluate Lewis' abilities as a driver. That is not the objective. It is to give him more mileage on a different type of circuit. No decision has been taken but as and when it is we will announce it."