Jarno Trulli says he will be in Formula 1 next year, the Italian veteran suggesting he will stay at Team Lotus for another season.
Although there were doubts about Trulli's future at the team after he was replaced by Karun Chandhok at the German Grand Prix, the Italian insists he is close to securing a new deal for next season.
"I am pretty comfortable for next year," Trulli told Reuters during a FOTA fan forum in Milan ahead of this weekend's Italian Grand Prix. "Obviously, it is not down to me to say where we are but, yes I am pretty happy with the way we are working with the team and the relationship for the future. I would say that we are settled."
When asked if he will be in F1, he said: "Yes."
The 37-year-old insisted Lotus' new power steering system had turned his fortunes around after struggling in the first half of the season. He was unable to run it in the previous race at Spa because of a technical issue, but it will be back for this weekend's Italian Grand Prix.
"There was a big step forward for me with the power steering and it definitely made a huge difference for me," he said. "It will be back here and from now on we can start developing it."