Berlin, Jan 26 (DPA) Scotsman Paul di Resta is to make his Formula One debut with Force India in the forthcoming season, the team announced Wednesday.
Di Resta, 24, steps up from his role as test and reserve driver to partner the German Adrian Sutil, 27.
German Nico Huelkenberg, 23, completes the Force India F1 team’s driver line-up as reserve driver for the 2011 season.
Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi had a contract for 2010 but the team is negotiating a settlement with him.
Di Resta will be the third British driver on the grid alongside former world champions Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button when the season begins in Bahrain March 13.
He won the DTM German Touring Car Championship for Mercedes in 2010, and impressed Force India with his speed in Friday morning practice sessions for the team.
‘Becoming an F1 driver has been a long-held ambition of mine, something I’ve wanted to do since I first stepped into a kart, and to finally realise it feels amazing,’ he said in a statement on the team’s website.
‘I’ve worked really hard for this opportunity throughout my career and to get it with Force India, a young team that’s got ambitions as big as mine, is genuinely exciting. I can’t wait to be on the grid in Bahrain, it can’t come soon enough.’
Sutil, who enjoyed his most successful season in F1 last season with 47 points, will be in his fifth successive season with the Silverstone-based team.
Vijay Mallya, Force India chairman and team principal, said he was ‘genuinely excited’ by the drivers in the team.
‘I believe that the combination of talent we’ve assembled gives us one of the strongest line-ups on the grid: Adrian has matured into one of F1’s most consistent and highly-rated young drivers, while Paul is, I believe, a real star of the future.’
