Former Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo said deceased Formula 1 driver Jules Bianchi would have replaced Kimi Raikkonen at the Italian outfit.
The 25-year-old Bianchi died on Friday night, nine months after suffering severe head injuries in a crash at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.
"He was the driver we had chosen for the future, once the collaboration with Kimi Raikkonen had finished," Montezemolo was quoted as saying by BBC on Monday.
On the incident, Montezemolo's successor Sergio Marchionne, added: "Jules was one of us, part of the Ferrari family. The Suzuka incident took away from us a first-rate person, reserved, quick, very educated, very close to Ferrari, who knew how to interact with the engineers. In short we lost a driver with a certain future."