Mick Schumacher still has a future in Formula 1, according to Alpha Tauri team boss Franz Tost.
Tost, who is retiring at the end of the year, actually pushed team owner Red Bull hard to sign the axed Haas driver for 2023 - but was overruled.
"I stood up for Mick," the Austrian told sport.de. "He had Formula 1 experience and was still young. That was not the case with Nyck (de Vries)."
Tost, 67, said Red Bull opted to sign Dutchman de Vries - who was subsequently dumped after just 10 races - because "there was nobody else at the time".
But when it came time to replace de Vries, Red Bull this time promoted Daniel Ricciardo back into racing action.
Tost admits that there will be no room in the Red Bull family for Schumacher for some time.
"We are occupied," he said. "We have a few young drivers coming on - some talents from the Red Bull driver pool. We will definitely fall back on them."
As for 24-year-old Schumacher, though, Tost - with close historic ties to the Schumacher family - insists he has "not given up on him".
However, he thinks the German is in "good hands" with Mercedes and Toto Wolff.
"He (Wolff) is super well connected," said Tost. "I think he’ll do everything to ensure that Mick gets a seat sooner or later.
"It doesn’t matter which team, if the opportunity arises, he has to take it," he added. "He won’t have the opportunity to choose for long."