Force India team owner Vijay Mallya says he cannot compromise on driver line-up, despite wanting to run an Indian driver in 2011.
The two seats at the team are yet to be decided even though Vitantonio Liuzzi has a contract for next season. Several drivers have been linked with the role, including Nico Hulkenberg, Nick Heidfeld, Karun Chandhok and Paul di Resta.
The Indian billionaire though, says he must secure the quickest drivers he can, regardless of nationality.
“You know everybody keeps asking me about an Indian driver,” he told ESPN-F1. “I would love to have an Indian driver in the car, make no mistake about that, [but] we spend hundreds of millions of dollars developing this car to fight for a hundredth of a second. I cannot compromise on the quality and skill of the drivers.
“We will take whatever decision is in the best interest of the team because clearly we want to score points, we want to be on the podium.”
However, Mallya is confident in finding the next ‘Lewis Hamilton’ in India and has even launched a hunt for the hopeful candidate.
“Amongst 1.2 billion people, there’s got to be a Lewis Hamilton somewhere and it might be like looking for a needle in a haystack but we will find that needle,” he added.
“That is why we are launching a sort of hunt for a new driver.”
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