Hard to believe, but Ralf Schumacher is still holding out hope of receiving a phone call from Ron Dennis inviting him to partner Lewis Hamilton, or so Germany's Bild am Sonntag would have us believe.

The newspaper quotes the former Toyota driver as saying that he would leap at the chance to drive for the team that claimed eight wins this season - and still has a vacancy - following the parting of the ways with Fernando Alonso.

"It's no secret that the seat at McLaren is by far the most coveted there is," Schumacher is quoted as saying. "Every driver out there in the market would love to sit in their super car."

The 32-year-old admitted that there had been no contact with McLaren "so far", however, this contradicts earlier reports that his manager had approached Ron Dennis enquiring if the former Toyota driver was under consideration, the response was along the lines of 'he wasn't and isn't'.

Despite winning six Grands Prix in the course of his eleven-year F1 career, the last two seasons have seen a dramatic loss of form, with rumours during the summer that Schumacher had been given two races in which to raise his game or face the chop.

With McLaren highly unlikely to call on the Ralf's services, especially when drivers such as Kovalainen, Sutil and Liuzzi are available, the German's prospects for 2008 look exceedingly limited, other than the possibility of a berth at Force India.