Thaindian News

London, Dec 17 (IANS) The speculation on Sahara Force India’s drivers for the 2012 season ended Friday when the team decided to retain Britain’s Paul di Resta and promoted German Nico Hulkerberg to be the other permanent driver from being a reserve in 2011. Another German Adrian Sutil was dropped from the line-up.

Force India made the the much anticipated announcement after months of the speculation on the drivers’ line up. Team principal had earlier said that he would name the drivers before the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November with both Di Resta and Sutil waiting anxiously about their future.

Mallya said the team made the best decision in reposing faith in di Resta and Hulkenberg.

“I am delighted to present our line-up for the 2012 season. In Paul and Nico we have two extremely talented drivers with tremendous potential,” said Mallya in a statement.

“I think Paul caught the eye of everybody in the pit lane during his rookie season. His speed, maturity and racecraft confirmed that we were right to believe in him and we look forward to working with him again next year.

“As for Nico, we identified him as a rising star at the end of 2010 and chose to evaluate him during the course of this season. Despite having only limited time in the car, he convinced us that he deserved a race seat for 2012.

“Our new line-up means we say ‘goodbye’ to Adrian Sutil, who has been with the team since we entered the sport. He has been an integral part of our success over the past four seasons and we wish him well for the future.”

Force India aim to better their sixth place in the 2011 Constructor’s Championship next season.

Di Resta scored 27 points for the Silverstone-based outfit while the more experienced Sutil earned 42.