The Briton joined the struggling squad for 2015 after making his debut with the now-defunct Caterham team in last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Manor is the only team with vacant seats for next season, but the outfit has yet to confirm any drivers - although Rio Haryanto’s bid to land a drive with the team has been boosted by major Indonesian government backing.

"As I've said before, we are in a good position," Stevens said of his future. "Obviously we'd love everything sorted as quickly as we can from my point of view because it's nice to go into the winter break having things firmed up.

"But if it's going to happen I'm sure it's not going to be far away. In terms of how confident I am to get the seat, I'm 100 percent confident.

"Everything just needs to come together and there's a lot of people working away from the track on my behalf.

"We've had some very productive meetings and everything is moving in the right direction."

One eye on 2017

Stevens, 24, insists he is working towards a long-term deal in F1.

"It's not a case of I don't get in for next year is going to ruin my chances for the year after that," he said.

"What we want to achieve is that I'm not sitting here at the end of next year saying 'will I get an seat for 2017?'

"What we've always worked on is to get the longevity and to get security for my future in F1. We are working hard to figure out the right things to do.

"We are not in a position where there's a lot of seats left. I'm in a good position as anyone to get a seat for next year. If anyone was in a better position I'm sure they would have been signed by now.

"We are happy with where we are at, we've got good discussion going on and hopefully we won't be in that predicament in a few months' time."

Mercedes boost

With Manor having secured Mercedes engines for 2016, Stevens is optimistic the team can take a massive step forward.

The British driver struggled at the back of the field all year, and is hoping to be lapped less often next season.

"This year is going to be hopefully the worst is ever going to get for me," said Stevens. "Obviously the performance upgrade for next year will be massive.

"I'm sure there's cars in the middle of the field that are going to get lapped, so it's going to be the same story, but I think in Brazil I was lapped three or maybe four laps, so I would like things not to be in that region."