Apr.29 (GMM) Force India co-owner Vijay Mallya on Tuesday insisted that Ralf Schumacher was never an option to race for the team in 2008.

Schumacher tested for the newly-acquired Silverstone based team last December, but he insisted at the time that he was only fulfilling a promise to Mallya, whom he met in his capacity as a Toyota sponsor last year.

"Ralf is a good friend," Mallya told the German magazine Auto Motor und Sport in an interview.

"He was never a candidate. I asked him to test our car once in the winter because I wanted to know his opinion.

"The real alternatives to Fisichella were Liuzzi, Klien and Montagny. Not Ralf," he added.