Nico Hulkenberg re-signs for Force India F1

Germany's Nico Hulkenberg, who drove for the Sauber F1 team for the 2013 Formula 1 World Championship, has been confirmed as a race driver for the Sahara Force India F1 team for the 2014 season by team principal and chairman Vijay Mallya (left, in picture), at least until the end of the 2015 season.

The 26-year-old made his F1 debut with Williams F1 in the 2010 season, the highlight of which was a pole position in the rain-affected qualifying session of the Brazilian Grand Prix with the team that struggled to compete at the sharp end of the grid.

He then spent a year as a test and reserve driver for Force India during the 2011 season after which he raced for the team in the 2012 season before departing for Sauber F1.

Sauber F1, however, were uncompetitive for a large part of the recently concluded season and their financial future was put in doubt after a deal with three Russian state-sponsored companies allegedly fell through.

Despite this, Hulkenberg managed to score six points finishes in the last eight races of the season for Sauber. Four of those finishes were in the top six including a fifth and fourth place finish in the Italian and Korean Grands Prix.

The former A1 Grand Prix, Formula 3 Euroseries and GP2 champion ended up finishing with 51 points - out of Sauber F1's total score of 57 points in the constructors championship - and tenth in the drivers championship.

Hulkenberg had been all but confirmed as a driver for the beleaguered Lotus F1 team before the outfit formerly known as Renault F1 and Benetton F1 failed to secure a takeover by investment group Quantum. The deal was believed to be crucial in order to ensure their survival and competitiveness that saw the team score one win and fourteen podiums between their 2013 race drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean.

The confirmation of Pastor Maldonado joining Lotus F1 for next season left Force India as the only option for Hulkenberg, where he is believed to be partnered by compatriot Adrian Sutil as Scotsman Paul Di Resta has admitted to the outlook for a 2014 race seat looking difficult.