London: Force India and Williams were among four teams to have no drivers named on an entry list for next year's Formula One world championship, published by the governing FIA on Wednesday.
Williams had been expected to include at least well-funded Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado as one of their drivers but the former champions left both spaces blank, with names to be confirmed at a later date. Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, Williams's other driver this year, is out of contract but hoping to stay on for his 20th season in the sport despite having strong rivals for the seat.
Force India, who are expected to confirm Britain's Paul Di Resta and Germany's Nico Hulkenberg, also left empty spaces, along with HRT and Toro Rosso.
Spanish-owned HRT have already announced Spanish veteran Pedro de la Rosa as one of their drivers, but his name did not appear on the initial list either.
The Formula One sporting regulations decree the International Automobile Federation (FIA) must publish the list on or before November 30, but teams are under no obligation to decide their drivers by that date.
Lotus, formerly the Renault F1 team, had only 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen listed after announcing on Tuesday that the Finn would be making a comeback with them. Russian Vitaly Petrov, Frenchman Romain Grosjean and Brazilian Bruno Senna have all been linked to the team's second position. Petrov, who has a contract and has raced for the past two seasons, and his manager were meeting Lotus bosses on Wednesday to discuss his future with the team.
Lotus have now also become a British team after Renault, despite their team factory being in central England, had competed under the French flag. Despite eight of the 12 teams being British-based, including champions Red Bull, only three (McLaren, Williams and Lotus) will compete with British licences next year. Virgin Racing will become Russian-registered Marussia F1 while Caterham, formerly Team Lotus, compete under the Malaysian flag.
Caterham confirmed Finland's Heikki Kovalainen and Italian Jarno Trulli, but the latter's place remains uncertain, with Red Bull-backed Australian Daniel Ricciardo linked to the team.
Red Bull's double champion Sebastian Vettel will have the number one on his car for the second year in a row while Australian teammate Mark Webber will have the number two. At McLaren, Jenson Button is assigned the number three with Lewis Hamilton, beaten this year for the first time in his career by a teammate over the course of a season, carrying the number four.
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