Red Bull Racing have offered David Coulthard a glimmer of hope just as the Scot's Formula One career looked to be drawing to a close.
Austrian energy drink billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz, who this month bought Jaguar from Ford, suggested the 33-year-old could still have a future with his new, renamed team.
"Among the experienced drivers with 'development know-how', David Coulthard and Nick Heidfeld would be of interest, for example," he said in a written reply to Reuters questions about his team and driver options.
But Mateschitz made clear that fellow Austrian Christian Klien, a rookie with Jaguar this year, and Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi remained the favourites for his team's race seats.
"It's no accident that people talk about the first year in Formula One as being a learning year," he said. "Afterwards a driver has to prove himself.
"From that point of view, Christian Klien should get his chance, but he has to prove himself in a series of tests - just like Vitantonio Liuzzi, who impressively won the Formula 3000 championship as a Red Bull junior driver."
Coulthard has been dropped by McLaren in favour of Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya.
