Vitantonio Liuzzi positive about his chances of staying with HRT in 2012

The 31-year-old Italian joined the Spanish squad for this year, having raced for Force India the previous season.

Although HRT has struggled at the back of the field, Liuzzi is confident he can stay on and see the team make progress.

"I see this is a long-term project and I think the owners are giving me the full support and the full trust, so I'm happy to keep going in this project," Liuzzi told AUTOSPORT.

"As I said many times, I did it with Toro Rosso and Force India, so I think there is a big chance of growing. In F1 you never know, so we'll have to wait a few months, but I'm really positive to stay because I believe in this team."

Liuzzi, whose team has been taken over by Spanish company Thesan, is upbeat about the future, and he reckons HRT will be able to make a significant step next season.

"I have to say that even though there was a chance of owners, the Carabante family did a great job to get this team to where it is now. But even the new owners... they seem to be really motivated and focused on making the team go forward. We still have a big project ahead of us and the biggest step we should do it next year.

"The 2012 car is already going ahead and [technical director] Geoff [Willis] is working really hard on that, so I'm really looking forward to the beginning of next season. But we cannot forget this ongoing season, because we still have a championship to do."

The Italian will take part in the V8 Supercar enduro event at Surfers Paradise in October, but insisted his focus at the moment remains on F1.

"At the moment I enjoy Formula 1 a lot and this is my main focus. But it could be something you do when you are older, so for sure it could be something I might think about."

"We started talking and I was quite interested because my focus is Formula 1 but I also like some different challenges. I did in the past the Speedcar Series and it was great fun, and the V8 Supercar seems to be very competitive in Australia.

"There are a lot of really well known drivers and also for this special event there will be drivers coming from the States and from Europe. I'm looking forward to it. It's a different challenge in the middle of the overseas races. We are free and I like to keep myself busy as much as I can in racing because this is what I love to do."