The Brazilian, a world championship runner-up in 2008, has recovered from serious head injuries suffered the following year but has very much been the number two driver since Alonso arrived from Renault in 2010.
The front-runner is Denise Kingsmill, a lawyer, who is currently deputy head of the Competition Commission and in charge of its inquiry into car prices.
At SIFMA, the American securities industry conference in New York in June, Mary Shapiro, head of the SEC, and Christine Lagarde, front-runner for the chief of the International Monetary Fund, were regarded as only slightly better.