» Liuzzi on the outer…

“A young driver with a lot of potential” will occupy the second cockpit at the HRT F1 outfit next year, so says the team’s technical boss Jacky Eeckelaert.

Leading the race to join the Spanish team’s driver line-up alongside Pedro de la Rosa are Jérôme d’Ambrosio, Bruno Senna, Vitaly Petrov and Giedo van der Garde, who all come well-armed with sponsorship funding that would be welcomed by the backmarker team.

Eeckelaert’s comments, reported in Belgium’s La Libre newspaper, have given a fairly clear indication that the under-contract Vitantonio Liuzzi will be shown the door.

“He hasn’t really confirmed himself after several chances. We are looking more for a young driver with a lot of potential,” he is quoted as saying.

But notions that the team will re-identify itself as an all-Spanish operation (in terms of its driver line-up) were also quashed, with Eeckelaert also adding: “I don’t think it’s in the interests of the team to have a second Spanish driver.

“The same goes for the drivers approaching retirement,” he continued.

[Original image via Sutton Images]