Force India Team Principal and CEO Vijay Mallya has spoken about his desire to hold onto Paul Di Resta for the 2012 Formula 1 season.

The British driver has shown much promise so far this year, including making it to 6th place in qualifying for the recent British Grand Prix (report and reaction here).

The 25-year-old has impressed many with his performances this year and he has been consistently linked with a move to Mercedes GP, perhaps as a replacement for former World Champion Michael Schumacher.

However, Mallya has said that the team would be ‘foolish’ to let the Scotsman go.

Expressing the team’s desire to keep Di Resta, he said: “I haven’t put Paul in the car without having clear options going forward and he is also very, very happy in this environment and in this team.”

“I would be foolish to let go of a star, so we’ll talk later in the year, but I feel the odds are more in favour of Paul remaining with Force India.”

“When I first signed him up I told him we wanted a commitment which he was happy to give and so I was happy to give him a break.”

Di Resta himself was asked about his future by Jake Humphrey and co at the weekend and he replied in a professional manner, saying that he could only concentrate on having a good second-half to the season with Force India.

There seems to be no doubt that he has a big future ahead of him though and there could be a fight for his signature in a few months time.

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