Force India to Confirm Lineup in a Few Days

Force India will not keep its fans in suspense for much longer, as Vijay Mallya recently confirmed that his team's lineup will be announced within the “next few days.” Back in December, the media estimated that the Silverstone based team would confirm its 2011 drivers by mid January, but some legal issues seem to have occurred in the process.

“There are some legal loose ends to be tied up,” said the Indian billionaire in a recent interview with the BBC.

Translated into a more accurate English, what we assume this comment means is that Vitantonio Liuzzi will probably be ousted before the 2011 campaign kicks off. And that's because the Italian has a 2-year contract with Force India, which was supposed to keep him at Silverstone until the end of 2011, a situation that Adrian Sutil, Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg are not into (they are all free agents, so there should be no legal complications with signing a deal).

A few days after Christmas, Swiss newspaper Blick issued a report – denied by all parties involved shortly after – by which Force India has already made up its mind about the drivers lineup for 2011. Adrian Sutil would be joined in by Scottish rising star Paul di Resta, while Nico Hulkenberg would get to drive the VJM04 race car on Friday's practice session.

Recently asked by the media to share some info on the situation, Hulkenberg's manager Willi Weber said that before “anything is said officially, I can't say anything myself.” However, he did reveal that he turned out a racing deal with Marussia Virgin for his client, as he believes being a Friday driver for a mid-pack team is much more important for Hulkenberg's career.