Red Bull's Dietrich Mateschitz insists that there is no chance of Max Verstappen leaving Red Bull Racing anytime soon.
The Dutch prodigy endured his sixth retirement of the season on Sunday in Spa, a failing which understandably triggered doubts over Verstappen's future with the Milton Keynes-based outfit.
But the 19-year-old is contracted to Red Bull until the end of 2018, and with no readily available alternatives currently in sight, any premature departure is impossible.
Mateschitz sided with his unfortunate driver when it came to assessing Renault, the source of most of Verstappen's failures this season.
"A 50 per cent failure rate is simply unacceptable," Mateschitz told Speed Week.
The billionaire insisted however that Verstappen has no other choice but to make the best of a bad situation.
"At the moment, where would he go?" the Austrian business mogul wondered.
"But we know we cannot keep Max in the future if we cannot give him a car."
While blaming Renault, Mateschitz conceded that an engine supplier change in the future is an unlikely scenario.
"Nothing has changed for us. We cannot get a Mercedes or Ferrari, and a Honda would not help us."
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