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McLaren to replace Perez?

LONDON, England - McLaren was believed to be on the verge of confirming Sergio Perez as Jenson Button's continuing team mate for 2014. A report by Formula 1 correspondent Tom Cary claims the rookie could still be ousted after just a single season with McLaren.

Perez would be replaced by another rookie, the McLaren-developed youngster Kevin Magnussen, who has just wrapped up the Formula Renault 3.5 series.

The son of former McLaren test driver Jan, the young Magnussen won a GP2 test as a prize for his 2013 title, but according to Cary he "pulled out" of the run in November "for unexplained reasons".

MOVING UP TO F1

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh described Formula Renault 3.5 as "a much higher quality championship than GP2", and so the test may have been seen as a threat to Magnussen's reputation.

Indeed, Formula Renault 3.5 has also housed well-known, F1-linked names like Stoffel Vandoorne, Antonio Felix da Costa, Sergey Sirotkin and Carlos Sainz jnr in 2013.

The newly-crowned 2013 GP2 champion, meanwhile, is Fabio Leimer. For the young Swiss, F1 is "as far away from Leimer as the moon," according to the veteran correspondent for Blick newspaper, Roger Benoit.

Magnussen, on the other hand, is knocking loudly on the door, but it was expected he would make his debut for a team like Force India or Marussia.

Magnussen said: "For me, if I can get a competitive seat in the first year I would prefer that. It's true there is a bigger risk in going to a top team because if you don't perform then you're out of formula one.  But for me, if I get to a top team and don't perform then it means I'm not good enough."

Stay with Wheels24 for the 2013 F1 season – fresh reports every day.
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