Formula 1:With a show of precocity as startling as anything he has achieved on the track, the astonishing Lewis Hamilton made it clear yesterday he would not remain at McLaren if he was to be the world champion Fernando Alonso's number two.

At the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, where tomorrow he will enter his sixth grand prix, the joint championship leader said he was not prepared to become another Rubens Barrichello, who was stuck with the number two tag during Michael Schumacher's great years at Ferrari.

"The situation that Rubens was in . . . if that was ever the case, I wouldn't be here for much longer," Hamilton said. "Rubens knew that Schumacher was the main man. Every weekend, when I'm matching (Alonso's) times, doing as well or even better, I'm demonstrating that I've got the ability to be the champion. I deserve to be equal with him. I'm as quick and in some races I've been quicker than him in testing. We've been very close."

Before Toyota, Toro Rosso, Spyker or Super Aguri dash off in Hamilton's direction with hastily drawn-up contracts, though, it should be pointed out the new star of Formula One is not about to leave the team that groomed his audacious talents for so many years. A split between Hamilton and his long-term mentor, the McLaren chairman Ron Dennis, would be emotionally almost unbearable for both.

But after the events of Monaco, where team strategy prevented him from challenging Alonso for the race, there is an even greater assertiveness about the young man who seems to carry the podium about with him as if it was his personal dais.

Lewis, whose acceleration from anonymity to super-stardom in just three months matches anything he has done when the grid lights change from red to green, was third in his first race, in Australia in March. He still places that result ahead of his subsequent achievements.

"You saw the hugging and the laughing," he said. "It was an emotional roller coaster that race, because we didn't expect to do that well."

That was followed by four second places, in Malaysia, Bahrain, Spain and Monaco. But that last race had the whiff of anti-climax about it. There had been an air of coronation fever about the tight street circuit that fell flat when Hamilton was called in to the pits early. In reality, though, Hamilton's best chance of winning at Monaco disappeared when he failed to get pole position as a result of hitting traffic on his final qualifying run.

Hamilton added: "Look, the team did a fantastic job at Monaco to improve the cars that much that we were so far ahead of the Ferraris, to fix my car after the crash, to finish one-two . . . this is a great team and I would do anything for them. I am privileged to drive for them. I've got the same car and no one is biased."

The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve presents new challenges for Hamilton because he has never been here before, though he has spent hours "driving" it on McLaren's simulator, which is said to be the best in Formula One.

Alonso sent out a clear message yesterday with the fastest time in both free practice sessions for tomorrow's race.

McLaren's Formula One championship leader was 0.54 seconds ahead of Ferrari's Brazilian Felipe Massa in the second session at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, where he posted a time of one minute 16.550 seconds.

The Spaniard's team-mate Lewis Hamilton, level with him at the top of the standings, was third quickest but 0.757 seconds behind Alonso.

On Television. Sunday (6pm) - UTV and Setanta Ireland