Vitantonio, or Tonio for short, Liuzzi joins Force India Formula One Team as its new test and reserve driver for its 2008 Formula One campaign.
International tennis star and Indian doubles champion Mahesh Bhupati and India's Davis Cupper Rohan Bopanna visited the Force India Formula One team in Monaco prior to the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday.
Force India's Vitantonio Liuzzi will drop five places on the British Grand Prix starting grid after impeding another driver during qualifying, race stewards said on Saturday.
Narain Karthikeyan's first weekend back in Formula One was a huge let down but the Indian is confident he will finally go racing at next month's Malaysian Grand Prix.
Force India return to the scene of their greatest race this weekend with scant hopes of repeating last year's Belgian Grand Prix heroics.
Adrian Sutil lost a dramatic duel with pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel in the final lap to finish eighth, as Force India added four valuable points from an eventful British Grand in Silverstone on Sunday. His team mate Vitantonio Liuzzi also featured in a wheel-to-wheel duel with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso before finishing 11th, just outside the points bracket.
Force India's point-scoring spree continued unabated as Adrian Sutil drove a flawless race, keeping 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton at bay, for a fifth place finish to earn 10 invaluable points from Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix.
Vitantonio Liuzzi kept his cool in a rollercoaster of a race to finish seventh and win six invaluable points for Force India while Karun Chandhok was among the 14 drivers who lasted the distance in the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on Sunday.
Adrian Sutil will start eighth at the grid while his Force India Formula One team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi will be at the 12th spot in the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday.
Force India were reprimanded by stewards at the German Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday after mixing up their drivers' tyres.
Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi will replace compatriot Giancarlo Fisichella at Force India for the remaining five races of the season, the Formula One team said on Monday.
Adrian Sutil will start Sunday's British Grand Prix 11th on the grid, four places ahead of team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi as none of the Force India drivers could make it to the third qualifying session (Q3) in Silverstone on Saturday.
Force India Chairman Vijay Mallya is expecting both Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi to be among points in Sunday's British Grand Prix and reckons a podium finish is possible in Spa and Monza.
Adrian Sutil will start Sunday European Grand Prix 13th on the grid, just ahead of team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi, as Force India witnessed a disappointing afternoon with none of them making to the third qualifying session (Q3) on Saturday.
Even though both the drivers finished inside the top 10 Force India chairman Vijay Mallya said he had expected the Canadian Grand Prix to yield more points for the Silverstone-based outfit.
Vitantonio Liuzzi shrugged off his recent setbacks and will start Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix sixth on the grid, while team-mate Adrian Sutil will start ninth after both the Force India cars made it to the third qualifying session (Q3) in Montreal on Sunday.
Adrian Sutil's ninth place finish earned Force India a couple of precious points from the eventful Turkish Grand Prix while Hispania driver Karun Chandhok was classified 20th though he could not finish the race.
Adrian Sutil will start Sunday's Turkish Grand Prix 11th on the grid, seven places ahead of team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi, as none of the Force India drivers could make it to the third qualifying session (Q3)on Saturday.
Having an Indian driver in Force India just for the sake of it would have been counter-productive for the Silverstone-based outfit, said Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone.
Vitantonio Liuzzi clocked the sixth fastest time as Force India began its final test ahead of this year's World Championship with the Italian driver carrying out set-up work and pit-stop practice.
Adrian Sutil finished 13th while team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi retired after his car crashed with Michael Schumacher's Mercedes as Force India failed to collect a single point from the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and end the Formula One championships at seventh in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
Force India's Adrian Sutil raced amazingly from 22nd on the grid to finish 12th at the Brazilian Grand Prix but Vitantonio Liuzzi crashed out after an accident in the penultimate race of the season, in Sao Paulo, on Sunday.
Vitantonio Liuzzi recorded his best result of the reason by finishing sixth in the inaugural rain-hit South Korean Grand Prix as Force India garnered eight points Yeongam on Sunday.
Renault discard Giancarlo Fisichella asserted driving for Force India would not be settling for lesser honour.
Adrian Sutil brought Force India back among points after finishing eighth in the action-packed Singapore Grand Prix, the only night race on the Formula One Calender, in Singapore on Sunday.
Force India returned empty handed for the fourth time this season with Vitantonio Liuzzi finishing 12th and Adrian Sutil 16th at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza on Sunday.
Force India F1 team continued making solid progress when it completed another trouble-free day of testing in Barcelona.
The 14th lap brush with Heikki Kovalainen's McLaren compromised Adrian Sutil's race and the double finish was hardly a solace as Force India completed its Japanese Grand Prix campaign without a single point.
For only the second time this season, Force India returned empty handed as Vitantonio Liuzzi and Adrian Sutil finished the German Grand Prix at the 16th and 17th place respectively in Hockenheim on Sunday.
Chennai-based Indian driver Karun Chandhok is getting ready to try Force India's driver simulator and is confident of proving his mettle for a Formula One debut next year.
Force India should have chosen an Indian driver to replace Giancarlo Fisichella when the Italian switched to Ferrari to help boost the build up for the nation's inaugural grand prix in 2011, Bernie Ecclestone has said.
For the first time, both the Force India cars finished among points but Hispania driver Karun Chandhok was among the 12 drivers who did not last the distance at the Monaco Grand Prix, which turned out to be a bloodbath of a race in Monte Carlo on Sunday.
Force India driver Vitantonio Liuzzi came out of team-mate Adrian Sutil's shadow and will start Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix 10th on the grid while Hispania driver Karun Chandhok will have Ferrari's Fernando Alonso giving him company in the last row.
Force India's point-scoring streak came to an abrupt end in a chaotic Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday with Adrian Sutil finishing 11th while his team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi retired after an opening lap brake problem.
Force India driver Adrian Sutil made it to the third qualifying session (Q3) once again and will start the Chinese Grand Prix 10th, while Karun Chandhok of Hispania will begin from the back of the grid.
Vitantonio Liuzzi has been among the points right from the start of the season and Force India chairman Vijay Mallya now wants the other driver, Adrian Sutil, to follow suit.
Vijay Mallya remembers the raised eyebrows that greeted his decision to retain Vitantonio Liuzzi as the race driver for the 2010 season and the Force India chairman is now pleased as punch after the Italian lived up to expectations within the first two races this year.
Force India's Adrian Sutil breezed into the third qualifying session (Q3) and will start Sunday's Australian Grand Prix 10th on the grid which will have India's lone F1 driver Karun Chandhok in the last row. Both the Force India cars should have been in Q3 but Sutil's team mate Vitantonio Liuzzi was caught up in traffic and the Italian, who scored the outfit's first points in Bahrain, would be 13th on the starting grid.
Force India cars figured in top 10 in both the segments ahead of Sunday's Australian Grand Prix but India's lone F1 driver Karun Chandhok could complete only 20 laps before a gearbox problem ended his run in the free practice sessions in Melbourne on Friday.
Vitantonio Liuzzi rounded off Force India's four-day testing with the fourth fastest time of the day and 80 smooth laps of the Circuit de Jerez in Jerez (Spain).
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