Jaime Alguersuari has been forced to admit that he is still not in position to make an announcement about his plans for next season.
The Spaniard has been hinting that a deal has been close for some time, having initially revealed that he had options to return to F1 as long ago as June, but nothing has been forthcoming and doors continue to close. The former
Toro Rosso driver has been linked to Sauber,
Force India and HRT, amongst others, in recent weeks but, with the Swiss team now full and the Spanish one out of business, his options are getting fewer.
Force India remains a real target, despite Vijay Mallya's squad also being favoured by the likes of Bruno Senna, Adrian Sutil, Luiz Razia and Sebastien Buemi, but Alguersuari has conceded that he may have to wait until the start of 2013 before he is in position to confirm anything.
"There is nothing to say yet," he told Spain's
AS newspaper, "We may not be able to announce anything about 2013 until January. However, it's also possible that it could be [announced] in the coming days."
Alguersuari has apparently been offered a seat in the
DTM by BMW, but has decided to put that option on hold while he exhausts his chances of returning to F1. With so many drivers on the market this winter – including several losing their F1 rides as well as the wannabes looking to step up from
GP2 and the World Series by
Renault – the Spaniard admits that it is going to be hard to secure one of the few remaining seats, particularly if he is unable to compete on financial terms.
"Fortunately or unfortunately, F1 is not MotoGP,” he stated, “If [Casey] Stoner is injured, there is no substitute who can match [Dani] Pedrosa or [Jorge] Lorenzo. But, in F1, there are ten applicants for a single seat – and merit, talent, past performance and experience are only part of what is needed.”