Vijay Mallya has revealed he will try to keep Paul di Resta at Force India in 2012.
Scot di Resta, the reigning DTM champion, has had a stellar debut F1 season so far and at Silverstone qualified an impressive sixth.
But he retains strong links with Mercedes-Benz, amid speculation the German marque could be hoping to slot the 25-year-old alongside Nico Rosberg at its works team.
Force India owner and boss Mallya, however, insists he has di Resta under contract.
"I haven’t put Paul in the car without having clear options going forward, and he is also very, very happy in this environment and in this team," said the Indian billionaire.
"I would be foolish to let go of a star, so we’ll talk later in the year, but I feel the odds are more in favour of Paul remaining with Force India.
"When I first signed him up I told him we wanted a commitment which he was happy to give, and so I was happy to give him a break," added Mallya.