Force India stick with Sutil and Liuzzi for 2010

Friday 27th November 2009

Adrian Sutil will remain at Force India next season while Tonio Liuzzi has secured a full-time drive with the Silverstone-based squad.

Sutil, who joined Force India in 2007 when the team still run under the Spyker banner, claimed his best of his F1 career when he finished fourth in the 2009 Italian GP.

That same race saw Liuzzi make the move up from test driver to race driver, with Force India confirming on Friday that he will retain the position next season.

"We are very pleased to retain the services of both Adrian and Tonio for another season," said team boss Vijay Mallya.

"We have always maintained that consistency is key at this stage in the team's development and for the first time in many years we will have the continuity of not only the same drivers, but also the same engine and senior management.

"With this stability now in place I truly believe we have an excellent platform to build on and move forward on our strong 2009 performance.

"I am sure we have one of the most dynamic line-ups on the grid and I hope this will stand us in good stead in what we all hope will be a transitional year for the team."

Sutil is eagerly anticipating his fourth season with Force India, confident that the F1 team can take another step forward next year.

"2010 will be my fourth consecutive year with the team. I feel good here, it feels like family, and when you feel at ease you can focus your energy 100% on getting it right on track," he said.

"Next season I want to be in the points on a regular basis, maybe even challenging for the podium, and the team has exactly the same goals.

"We are going massively in the right direction so with our combined energies I'm confident we can achieve even more than last season."

Meanwhile, Liuzzi, who hasn't had a full-time drive since 2007, added: "It was always my goal to be back racing in 2010 and I've finally achieved it," he said. "I feel the five races I did in 2009 were a bit of a warm-up; get back racing, learn the car, get the feeling back.

"Now I've done that I feel ready to really push next season. We were pretty strong in the last part of the 2009 season so if we pick up where we stopped I think we could be in for a good year. For sure points are the aim and showing everyone what we can do."

Your Comments

JAMESF1

"shame for fisi not being able to get a drive but its his fault leaving the team if he stayed he might have had a few more podiums and his stock would have gone up and he might have had a good blast this season to shame to see talent lost sat at side lines what ever was he thinking "