PAUL Di Resta admits he will have to play a waiting game over his future for the next few weeks but is philosophical about the fact it hangs on the decisions of others.
Formula One's driver merry-go-round over who will be at the wheel for which team next season should soon be getting under way but is currently stalled around uncertainty over the plans of Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher.
Only when their situations are clarified will opportunities open up for others, including Force India's Scot, who suffered a huge setback ahead of today's Italian Grand Prix.
Di Resta qualified fourth fastest, but was hit with a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change.
Hamilton will start on pole in Monza this afternoon, with team-mate Jenson Button alongside him. The former is locked in talks with McLaren over a new contract, but Mercedes are also in the frame for his services.
The German team, however, are meanwhile in discussion with Schumacher over whether he will stay with them for another year, or retire for a second time.
Di Resta is among those in the frame for a move in the shakedown and the 26-year-old has been linked with McLaren and Mercedes, although he also has an option of another year with his Silverstone-based team.
Assessing his prospects for next season, Di Resta said: "I don't know because I don't hold the key to it. Obviously it has become a year where there are possibly three teams that might be changing, and it's always nice to have speculation, to see the interest.
"But it's something I can't let my brain run away with. I'm in the car this weekend and expected to do a job. That is going to be the focus."
Di Resta suffered a kinetic energy recovery system failure 40 minutes before last Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix but still managed to finish 10th and end a run of three races without a point. The Scot has fallen behind team-mate Nico Hulkenberg in the standings, although the German fared even worse in qualifying in Italy.
Hulkenberg, who finished fourth in Belgium, will start last, having failed to set a time after slowing and stopping on the escape road next to the first chicane. Di Resta, now starting ninth, has still achieved the goal of a top-10 slot he set after practice. He said: "I knew I was going to have a grid penalty for the gearbox change, which is frustrating, but at least I'll start inside the top 10.
"The challenge now is to make sure we have the race pace and use the strategy to come away with points. I don't think the race will throw up too many strange things as we all have an idea on which direction we want to head.
"In the points is the place we need to be, and anywhere up to seventh is going to be a great result for us. Further forward than that and things have to happen to make that happen."
Schumacher moves up to fourth on the grid, alongside Felipe Massa. Drivers' championship leader Fernando Alonso, who has a 24-point advantage over Red Bull's champion Sebastian Vettel, could only manage 10th place on the grid for his team's home grand prix. For the second time in three races, Mark Webber failed to qualify for the top-10 shoot-out. Williams' Pastor Maldonado starts 22nd after incurring a 10-place grid penalty for jumping the start in Belgium and causing a collision.
Meanwhile FIA president Jean Todt warned Formula One will be "unsustainable" if costs are not cut by 30% over the next three years, echoing comments made in 2009 by former president Max Mosley after a trio of major manufacturers – Honda, Toyota and BMW – exited the sport.
The teams have so far been unable to reach a compromise on spending limits in a new resource restriction agreement. Todt said yesterday: "Formula One is too expensive. We need to agree what to do, otherwise it will be unsustainable."
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