Tonio Liuzzi says he wants to stay with HRT because he believes it can make "a huge step forward in terms of lap time" in 2012.
Having joined the team at the start of 2011, Liuzzi has been leading HRT in its fight with Virgin at the back of the grid. A 13th place in Canada equalled Lotus' best finish of the season, and increased hopes that HRT can secure 10th place in the constructors' championship. Liuzzi told reporters at Spa that the team was working hard to chase that target as well as developing a much improved 2012 car.
"At the moment it's a bit mixed because Geoff [Willis] is fighting between this year's car and next year's car, because for sure we all know that next year is crucial for us to show that we have a huge step forward in terms of lap time," Liuzzi said. "But we cannot forget this year, there's still eight races to go and we cannot sleep. Virgin for sure is not sleeping as well, so we have to keep them behind in the constructors' championship and get closer to Lotus.
"So it's not an easy time, we do not believe we will have a really steep curve of upgrades but we have something coming for this race, something for Monza, and for sure something has to come for the future races because in this camp there is a lot of work to be done. Geoff just needs to optimise everything and find the time to work on both cars in parallel; 2011 and 2012."
When asked about the updates coming throughout the rest of the season, Liuzzi said a structural issue means the team is only focussing on aerodynamic improvements.
"The updates are always aero. At the moment we are planning on the aero upgrade because the mechanical side we know the downside of this car from the beginning and it's something structural we can work on next year's car to improve. At the moment then for the future they will be mainly aero upgrades."
Looking ahead to 2012, Liuzzi said he had held preliminary talks with the team, and would be happy to stay as he feels HRT can improve substantially next year.
"We had some talks, but everybody wanted to be on holiday, not only my side but their side! For sure from now on we'll start talking, but I have to say with the team I have a good relationship where I don't face any big issues with them. We have to think about the future and we have to think positive for both sides.
"I said since the beginning that this was an adventure that I took and I was really motivated because I thought there were good points to improve and good people to work with. So I will be happy because I want to see the development for next year, because as I said, [Colin] Kolles, Geoff, and a lot of people work really hard for this team and I think we can show that we can make big progress. So I am looking forward and I think that there can be a good job made, that's why I will feel happy to stay."
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