 Silverstone: Eager to ensure consistency and stability, the Vijay Mallya-owned Force India on Friday retained its driver line-up of Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi for the next Formula One season.
"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," the outfit said in a statement.
Next year will mark Sutil's fourth season in Formula One. 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.
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In 2009, he recorded his best-ever F1 finish of fourth at the Italian Grand Prix, also securing his first front row start.
Liuzzi retained 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 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.
"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," Force India chairman and Team Principal Vijay Mallya said.
"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," he added.
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Sutil said his experience with Force India has been good and he is looking forward to improving his performance next season.
"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 percent 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," he said.
Liuzzi said he was excited about continuing progression in Formula One. The Italian 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.
"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.
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"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," he said.
The team's third driver will be announced in the weeks following the young driver test.
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