Sergey Sirotkin has admitted Renault would be a "good option" for a F1 reserve role in 2019.
The Russian driver lost his seat at Williams at the end of last year, but while racing in Le Mans sports cars in 2019 he hopes to also keep a toe in the F1 water.
"I very much hope to return to formula one in 2020," he told Russia’s f1news.ru.
"We are working hard now to build the best plan for this to happen."
A few days ago, it was rumoured that Renault - where Sirotkin previously worked as test driver together with his backers SMP Racing - could be the 23-year-old’s 2019 destination.
"It would be good to continue working in formula one as a backup driver," he said.
"And of course Renault is a good option, but at the moment we have no agreements with them."