Lance Stroll had a seat fitting in this year’s Force India VJM11 at its Silverstone factory last week, amid ongoing speculation over a potential move.
Stroll has been linked with a switch from Williams to Force India ever since father Lawrence led a consortium of investors to take over the team in August.
Stroll has remained with Williams for the Italian Grand Prix but quipped on Thursday that he is taking his situation “weekend by weekend”.
The Canadian youngster has been widely tipped to join the team for the 2019 season, a situation that could be brought forward, should machinations elsewhere fall into place.
Force India Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer and Technical Director Andy Green confirmed that Stroll visited its factory for a seat fitting to assess the situation.
“He fits in the car just in case,” said Szafnauer of Stroll in the VJM11.
Added Green: “What we wanted to do was make sure there was nothing that needed to change on next year’s car, subtly for him.
“And there are a few things we did change that we caught just in time.”
Expanding further on the driver changes, Szafnauer said: “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 will begin
“I’m guessing that Lance has a contract with Claire [Williams] and the CRB [Contract Recognition Board] holds that contract, so first step is to be released, and that assumes that we want him to be released as well. There’s a lot of stuff.”
