I see the German magazine Bild reckons that Heikki Kovalainen was only McLaren's third choice of driver after Alonso's departure. Rosberg and Vettel were approached first but both had rock solid contracts, apparently.
Heikki Kovalainen
It is vaguely interesting that there is no mention of Adrian Sutil, another hotly-tipped candidate for the seat, but note that all the suggestions are German drivers. This may be coincidence but no doubt we are supposed to see the hand of Mercedes behind the scenes. We are even told that Vettel was Norbert Haug's idea.
I am sure such stories suit Bild's readers but, personally, I doubt the whole thing. It is almost certainly true that McLaren were interested in Rosberg and probably tested the waters at Williams; hence Sir Frank's public assurances at the time that Nico was staying with him. But Vettel? I find that just as unlikely as the Sutil option. Both are unproven rookies, Vettel even more so than Sutil, and it is just not McLaren's style to take chances with driver choices.
Hamilton was an exception but was also a special case. He had been groomed for years for the job and seemed ready to tackle F1. Even so, it was a while before Ron Dennis finally made up his mind. It might be thought that the team were encouraged to take more chances after seeing how well Hamilton performed last year but there is a limit beyond which McLaren will not go. If the choice is between a driver with a proven record or one with a reputation but not much else, they will take the one with the record.
Rosberg was the one with most credentials and I would think they approached him first. But Kovalainen must have been on the short list from the start and was a natural choice when it became clear that Rosberg wasn't moving.
Also in the news is the fact that McLaren suffered a financial loss last year, blame going on decreased sales of their version of the Mercedes SLR and the departure of sponsors. Bearing in mind that they still have to pay off the $100 million FIA fine, it is quite likely that the team was not prepared to pay the asking price for any of the suggested replacements for Alonso. This again would have helped Heikki's cause.
And it seems that McLaren have ended up with as good a driver pairing as they could have hoped for. Kovalainen has been impressive in testing, much more so than I expected. There are probably all sorts of reasons why Hamilton has tended to trail the Finn in the times so far but there is still ample proof that Heikki is fast enough to warrant his drive.
So things may be looking up for McLaren, on the track at least. Although Trulli has restated his opinion that Ferrari are way ahead of everyone, others are not so sure and most of the indicators point at there being little to choose between the two usual contenders. Ferrari are better on long runs, it seems, while McLaren have the edge over shorter distances.
Which means that Hamilton and Kovalainen might be grabbing some pole positions. Last year that would have guaranteed them some wins but now traction control has gone and nobody is quite sure that grid position will be as important as it has been. We shall see.
In testing at Barcelona today, Hamilton was quickest, confirming the speed of the McLaren. Right behind him were the two Ferraris of Raikkonen and Schumacher - the expected contest settled in favor of the new champion. And next up was Nakajima, followed by Heikki and Nico Rosberg; yet more evidence of how good the Williams pairing is too. It really is shaping up to be a fascinating season.