Brendon Hartley's Formula One future hangs in the balance after reports out of Europe his Toro Rosso team tried to replace him ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix.
The BBC reports that teenage British sensation Lando Norris was offered Hartley's seat only for his employers, McLaren, to say no.
The 18-year-old is under contract with McLaren, and has test-driven for them in 2018.
Norris currently leads the F2 championship, with McLaren considering the Brit their most bright young driver and he is reported to be close to earning a full-time drive in 2019.
Toro Rosso is understood to be perturbed by the Kiwi's lack of consistency this season, despite him scoring a point at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last month.
Hartley has been involved in multiple collisions and teammate Pierre Gasly has near-constantly outperformed the 28-year-old.
Red Bull motorsport boss Dr Helmut Marko hinted at the teams' displeasure with Hartley last week.
"The situation around Brendon is not pleasing," Marko said. "We will go through this in peace and see what we can do in the future."
Hartley was positive after the recent Monaco Grand Prix, where he showed improved pace on the tight street circuit.
Despite starting 16th, the Kiwi had worked his way into 11th late in the race before being shunted out of contention by Sauber's Charles Leclerc.
"It had been a strong weekend, [but] not really much to show for it unfortunately," Hartley told crash.net.
"I'm still pretty positive for Montreal. We have an engine update coming, and we had a new floor here so we had some performance to put on the car.
"It looks like the team is really starting to unlock the car's potential."
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