Norris, who leads the European F3 series, proved his potential for the future with an impressive run for McLaren in the post-Hungarian GP test.

And amid uncertainty about Fernando Alonso’s long-term future at McLaren, there had been suggestions that Norris could be a contender for a surprise F1 call-up - or be placed elsewhere for a season.

But McLaren executive director Zak Brown has moved to dispel any talk that Norris is in the frame for any F1 drive in 2018, as he said the plan is to put him in F2 next year.

“No [F1] team has made a request,” said Brown about speculation linking Norris with a step up to F1.

“Our current plan is to put him in Formula 2. I certainly think he’s fast enough to be in Formula 1, but you also need to make sure not to rush things and give him enough experience.

“He’s definitely our star of the future and I don’t think we’d put him in another Formula 1 team at this point.”

While McLaren will help fund Norris’ F2 assault in 2018 - with the championship's leading outfit Prema touted as a possible destination - the team says it does not yet know what it will do with its other youngster Nyck de Vries, nor whether the Dutchman will remain a part of its junior programme.

“He’s doing a lot of simulator work for us and doing extremely well,” added Brown. “We’ve not taken a decision yet on our junior programme for next year.

“We’ve obviously got Lando signed up. Nyck currently, but that’s something Eric [Boullier] is working on. We’ve got some meetings coming up this month and then it’s really for Eric to say the direction of the junior programme.”