Force India has confirmed Lance Stroll underwent a seat-fitting at their Silverstone factory this week but only ahead of his 2019 move.
While unofficial, it is well-known the Canadian will be switching to the team his father bought during the summer break next year, with Esteban Ocon inadvertently revealing such last weekend in Belgium.
What is still uncertain is whether that move will come before the end of this season with speculation it is possible either in Singapore or a week later in Sochi.
Even so technical director Andrew Green insisted the seat-fitting was not an indication of an immediate switch but rather a look ahead to the future.
"What we wanted to do was make sure that there was nothing that we needed to change on next year’s car, subtly for him," he explained. "There were a few things we need to change, which we caught just in time."
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With Force India having to start from zero again with all their points stripped following a new entry under the new ownership, team boss Otmar Szafnauer has suggested the time may not be right to promote Stroll this year.
"As we sit here today, we’re keeping the same two drivers probably for the rest of the year, but you never know what tomorrow brings," he said.
"I would imagine that Lance has a contract with Williams, and I imagine that the CRB [Contract Recognition Board] has that contract. So the first step is to be released and that assumes that we want him to be released as well.
"There’s a lot of stuff. We’ve done the seat fitting, we’re in control of that. The rest of the stuff is legal stuff, but if two people agree, you can do it."
