Arguably the most highly-rated driver in the running for the cockpit alongside Narain Karthikeyan this year was Italian Davide Valsecchi, who was comfortably the quickest of the new team rookies at last November's Abu Dhabi test.

But team boss Colin Kolles admitted recently that Valsecchi's sponsorship budget was not yet big enough for the drive, and Turun Sanomat in Finland now reports that he is no longer on the list of candidates.

Another driver no longer in the running, according to veteran Turun Sanomat reporter Heikki Kulta, is 24-year-old Venezuelan Rodolfo Gonzalez.

"In the next few days there will be several announcements," Kolles said in an interview released on Tuesday.

In the same interview, Romanian-born German Kolles seemed to deny reports that HRT's 2011 car is simply last year's car with some modifications.

"As soon as the 2011 car is ready, we will implement it," he said.  "The plan is to use the 2011 car at the Bahrain test.  The 2011 car will be a completely new car, and will be called F111."