According to paddock speculations, Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi cannot take their Force India seats for granted because the Mercedes-backed duo of Pedro de la Rosa and Paul di Resta are also apparently on the radar of the Vijay Mallya-owned side.

Piquet's future looked bleak after he admitted deliberately crashing in the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix so that teammate Fernando Alonso could win the race. Renault team principle Flavio Briatore summarily dismissed Piquet even though neither Briatore nor engineer Pat Symonds could avoid a ban from the FIA.

Talking to a Brazilian website, Piquet Jr said he was weighing in his Force India and NASCAR options.

"I am close to Force India at the moment," Piquet told Brazilian website globo.com, translated by GMM. "But to me NASCAR is very interesting, so I don't know yet what is going to happen...It is clear that the F1 cars are very much better technologically the best in the world but I find that if it is enjoyable, it doesn't matter if I am racing in karts. The important thing is to compete," said the 24-year-old Brazilian.

Apparently, his father and three-time world champion Nelson Piquet is also ready to bankroll the comeback of his son. McLaren test driver de la Rosa is apparently also in running for a Force India race seat, having tested for the Silverstone-based squad last winter.