Force India confirms Sutil, Liuzzi for 2010

And that means the rumor of Nelson Piquet to the team can be put to rest.

Talk about some great news to get your [West Coast US] day started with!

Force India, emphasizing consistency, announced the driver line-up with this release:

Sutil and Liuzzi confirmed for 2010 line-up
The Force India Formula One Team is pleased to confirm Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi will remain with the team for the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship, thus giving complete consistency in its driver line-up.

2010 will be Adrian’s fourth season in Formula 1. The 26-year-old German started his F1 career with Force India’s predecessors, Midland, as a test and reserve driver in 2006 before graduating to a race seat with Spyker in 2007.

In 2009 he recorded his best-ever F1 finish of fourth at the Italian Grand Prix, also securing his first front row start.

Tonio retains his race seat following his move up from the team’s test and reserve driver role at Monza this year. The 28-year-old Italian made his race debut in 2005 with Red Bull Racing and moved to Toro Rosso for 2006 and 2007. In 2008 he became Force India’s third driver.

Dr Vijay Mallya, chairman and team principal, commented, ‘We are very pleased to retain the services of both Adrian and Tonio for another season. 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.’

Adrian added, ‘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. 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.’

Tonio said, ‘It was always my goal to be back racing in 2010 and I’ve finally achieved it. 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.’

An announcement regarding the third driver will be made in the weeks following the young driver test.

As an announced Force India fan, I have to say, first off: What a feeling of relief. The Jr Jr rumor was nearly too much.

And now that I’ve beaten the Jr Jr joke just enough, I’ll add: I think going for consistency is great, but I do wish Tonio had shown a little more during his starts in 2009. He was going well at Monza, where the car — with its trademarked Zero Downforce — was a great fit. But the rest of the season, I didn’t feel like he was wringing more out of the car than was “there.” And during the off season, the team has claimed the car was set up better those final races than we all thought. So my question: Why did the team fall back to Toro Rosso end of the grid?

I’m among those who rate Sutil pretty highly, although I realize he has a tendency to either shine or absolutely stink the place up. And at a certain point, when a driver keeps getting into accidents, somehow that driver has to be somehow at fault, even if it is just a result of bad luck.

For Sutil, 2010 will be the critical year of his career. He either will take a step forward — and I do think he can — or I suspect Force India will be his last team (and maybe 2011, or even 2010, his last season). But it would not surprise me if he has a short-term deal, with an eye on Mercedes GP if Sebastian Vettel does not go there when his Red Bull contract expires.

Finally, just for you die-hards, a few more facts on the drivers that the team provided:

Quick Adrian Sutil facts
Adrian made his F1 debut in 2006, driving the Midland in Friday free practice at the European, French and Japanese Grands Prix. His race debut came at the 2007 Australian Grand Prix and he achieved his first world championship points in Japan later that year. Despite a frustrating 2008 Adrian featured strongly in 2009, securing his first-ever front row start at the Italian Grand Prix and also the fastest lap of the race. To date he has scored six world championship points
Adrian was the 2006 Japanese F3 champion and also finished second to Lewis Hamilton in the 2005 F3 Euroseries
Born in southern Germany, Adrian has South American roots on his father’s side but now lives in Switzerland

Quick Tonio Liuzzi facts
Tonio Liuzzi was Force India’s test and reserve driver from 2008 until the 2009 Italian Grand Prix when he stepped up to replace Giancarlo Fisichella, who had departed to Ferrari. He qualified an outstanding seventh on the grid and was in a points-scoring position until a mechanical failure caused his retirement
Tonio made his F1 debut in 2005 at the San Marino Grand Prix with Red Bull Racing. He scored a point on this debut although competed in just three more races that year before making a permanent switch to Toro Rosso in 2006, where he remained for the 2007 season
Tonio holds the joint record for the most F3000 wins in one season; seven out of a possible ten in 2004, his championship-winning year. The Italian holds the record with Juan Pablo Montoya and Nick Heidfeld
Tonio has also held the FIA-CIK World Karting Championship title, which he won in 2001

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