Piquet Confirms Talks with Force India

Nelson Piquet Jr. might be attending the NASCAR Truck Series races lately, but his thoughts are still very much focused on landing a deal in Formula One. The Brazilian driver today confirmed that he is in touch with at least one team for a 2010 contract, and had no hesitations when naming it: Force India Mercedes.

The Indian outfit is yet to confirm its lineup for the upcoming season, but Adrian Sutil will more than likely be offered an extension to his current deal with the Silverstone based team. As far as the second seat goes, there are at least two other drivers interested in that spot, 2009 race drivers for Force India Vitantonio Liuzzi and Giancarlo Fisichella.

However, when mentioning his plans for the future, Piquet admitted he still doesn't have a clue about what he's going to do next year, as the prospect of racing in NASCAR has grown more and more appealing to him in recent weeks.

“I am close to Force India at the moment, but to me NASCAR is very interesting so I don't know yet what is going to happen. I don't want to take a decision without knowing how things work here in the United States, so I came to be with the drivers and team owners,” said Piquet, according to Brazil's globo.com.

The former Renault driver recently tested a Truck Series machinery and is close to landing a deal in the Camping World Truck Series, but only after evaluating all the possible options in Formula One.

As for Force India's other two choices, Giancarlo Fisichella seems the most likely to get a phone call from team owner Vijay Mallya, due to his past involvement with the team. He scored Force India's first pole position and podium during the Belgian Grand Prix this year, before leaving for a 5-race stint at Ferrari.

Although he signed a 10-year deal with the Scuderia, Fisico was allowed by the Ferrari officials to look for a racing spot in 2010.