Vitantonio Liuzzi Linked with HRT Seat in 2011

With Force India having announced its complete drivers lineup for the 2011 Formula 1 championship, it has now become official that Hispania Racing holds the last vacant seat for the upcoming campaign. Another certitude is the fact that Italian driver Vitantonio Liuzzi is out of contract for 2011, after Force India ousted him from Silverstone one year before contract end.

So by now, you probably guessed already that this last piece of news is evolved around the possibility of Liuzzi making the HRT F1 lineup, alongside existent regular driver Narain Karthikeyan.

The story goes like this: Liuzzi was replaced by Paul di Resta at Force India one year before his contract expired. Meaning that Vijay Mallya will be looking for a contract settlement that would keep Liuzzi happy and keep him out of some legal courts in the future. A similar situation occurred at Ferrari last year, when Raikkonen's remaining year of contract was “bought” by the Scuderia – around EUR10 million – in order to replace him with Fernando Alonso.

“Peter Collins (Vitantonio Liuzzi's manager) ... has confirmed that contacts exist,” reports Spain's AS newspaper, meaning that a potential financial retribution from Force India might be enough for him to “buy” his place into HRT.

A couple of weeks ago, shortly after signing Karthikeyan, HRT team principal Colin Kolles hinted between the lines that the seat he holds vacant for 2011 will go for the highest bidder, meaning the driver who can bring in as much money to HRT's budget. Back then, the media suggested a full-time 2011 seat with HRT F1 costs around EUR10 million.

On the same topic, it seems that Force India confirmed Paul di Resta for 2011 without priorly reaching a settlement with Liuzzi, something that can also lead to some trouble in the weeks to come. But guess what, we'll be among the first to keep you in touch with it.