ESPN readers have voted for McLaren's Fernando Alonso to replace Nico Rosberg at Mercedes following the world champion's shock retirement from Formula One.
This week Alonso's manager, Flavio Briatore, categorically ruled out the Spaniard moving to Mercedes but he appears to remain the fans pick to link up with Lewis Hamilton in 2017. Alonso and Hamilton are widely regarded as the two best drivers on the current grid and would be a mouth-watering partnership, as many will remember the pair's fractious season as teammates at McLaren in 2007.
In an ESPN vote set up on Friday, Alonso is the clear winner with just shy of one third of all votes (32 percent). His McLaren teammate of the last two seasons, Jenson Button, is second, even though his comeback would be the most sensational given the fact he was talking about retirement in Abu Dhabi. Button is stepping away from F1 next year as Stoffel Vandoorne moves up into a race seat at McLaren.
Mercedes junior Pascal Wehrlein finished third, ahead of Williams driver Valtteri Bottas, who only got 9 percent of the vote. Renault's Nico Hulkenberg finished just behind in fifth, while Sebastian Vettel surprisingly received just seven percent of all votes. Force India-bound Mercedes junior Esteban Ocon brought up the rear with just 3 percent of the vote.
The results:
Fernando Alonso -- 32 percent
Jenson Button -- 24 percent
Pascal Wehrlein -- 15 percent
Valtteri Bottas -- 10 percent
Nico Hulkenberg -- 9 percent
Sebastian Vettel -- 7 percent
Esteban Ocon -- 3 percent